Google Home Speakers Hit by Bug Downloading Hundreds of Gigabytes in the Background
A firmware-update bug is driving some Google Home Speakers to download data continuously, with one device exceeding 200GB in a day and another using 132GB in a month. Google says a fix is rolling out.
Some Google Home Speaker owners are experiencing a bug that causes their devices to continuously download hundreds of gigabytes of data in the background, Google and multiple user reports confirmed over the past week.
The issue is believed to stem from the speakers failing to correctly download and install a firmware update. One Reddit user found their device was consuming more than 200GB of data per day as a result. Reports of the problem surfaced across Reddit and were first covered by 9to5Google.
Most reports are linked specifically to the new Google Home Speaker model, though the full scope of affected devices remains unclear. Google has acknowledged the problem and told 9to5Google that “a fix is already rolling out that should address this for users.”
The scale of the issue varies between devices. One affected device used 132GB of data over the course of a month, while a separate Google Home Speaker in a different household downloaded just 2GB over the same period. A speaker belonging to The Verge’s Tom Warren was unaffected entirely.
For users on limited or capped internet data plans, the bug could pose a significant practical problem. Because the downloads happen silently in the background, affected users may not realize data is being consumed at an abnormal rate unless they actively monitor their devices’ usage. The bug could potentially exhaust a monthly data allowance before a user notices anything is wrong.