This is why your Google Speakers no longer work as advertised
Until now, you could control the volume of several Google smart speakers at the same time. That will no longer work in the future. A patent dispute between Google and Sonos is to blame.
Do you have several smart speakers from Google and organized them in groups? Then you will no longer be able to adjust the volume of your speakers all at once. You will have to control each speaker individually. Google reports this in a blog post. The reason for this is that Google has violated a patent of Sonos.
Workaround not for all patent infringements
You can also no longer control the volume with the volume rocker of the smartphone. You have to adjust it either with the Google Assistant, Google Home app or the Nest Hub display. At least the group function is still available. However, if you have smart speakers from other manufacturers that support the Cast feature, you might have to update the firmware. In which case this applies, you can also read in the blog post.
The US International Trade Commission has ruled that Google infringes on five Sonos patents. Google has already found ways around the problem, but not in the case of the volume control. Therefore, the technology company is now condemned to act.
With the omission of the feature, Google's smart speakers lose a key selling point. Not only that: The patent infringement is not likely to be good for Google's image.
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