Google Home Speakers Reportedly Download Hundreds of Gigabytes

Some Google Home Speaker owners say their devices are repeatedly downloading large amounts of data in the background. The issue has been reported by 9to5Google and several Reddit users over the past week.

The cause is unclear. The Verge reports that the bug may involve speakers failing to download and install a firmware update correctly. One Reddit user said their device was using more than 200GB per day.

Google told 9to5Google that “a fix is already rolling out that should address this for users.” Most reports concern the new Google Home Speaker model, but the scale of the problem is unknown. The Verge says it contacted Google for more information about the cause and which devices are affected.

Reported data use varies. Tom Warren, a Verge reporter, said his speaker was unaffected. 9to5Google reported that one Home Speaker in another household downloaded 2GB in the past month, while an affected device used 132GB over the same period.

The reports raise a concern for people with limited data plans, since heavy background downloads could use up an allowance. The Verge notes that users might not notice unless they regularly check their devices’ data use.