The Google Home , Home Mini and Home Max can be great party companions, filling the room with music or podcasts and taking occasional breaks to answer questions. But what if your guests want to play something from their own collection rather than talking to it directly? Well that's what "Guest mode" is for. Once you set it up , anyone in the same room as your Google Home can connect to it and send data from any app on their phone that supports Google Cast. Here's how you get it done.

Once Guest mode is enabled, it remains enabled until you choose to turn it off.

How to use Guest mode

With Guest mode enabled, people in the same room as your Google Home will be able to access it and play content just as if they were on your Wi-Fi network without actually being connected to it.

Make sure your Google Home is plugged in and its microphone is unmuted. Have your guests open an app that supports Google Cast, and tap the Cast button. Because they're not on a Wi-Fi network, the phone will automatically start searching for "nearby devices." If the phone is able to, it will automatically connect to the Google Home that has Guest mode enabled. If the auto-pair doesn't work, there will be an on-screen prompt to *enter the four-digit PIN generated earlier. The Guest mode PIN is available in your Google Home app.

Enter the PIN and tap Connect. Once connected, guests can send commands to the Google Home just as if they were on the Wi-Fi network. This includes managing content queues, switching apps and even pausing and playing remotely from the phone.

For some people it will be easier to just give out their home Wi-Fi network password and let people play directly to the Google Home, but if that's not possible the Guest mode does work as a nice backup option. Just follow the steps closely and you'll be rockin' out to everyone's tunes in no time.