topic Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far? in Home Automation

What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

KiiFromGoogle — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 15:10:33 GMT

New discussion incoming!

Did you know that you can save devices, actions, and automations to your Favorites in the new Google Home app? These and other features are now available in the Public Preview. Read more about them in our blog: Request an invite to try the new Google Home app in Public Preview.

If you’ve gotten the chance to try the new features, we want to know: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far? We’d love to hear all the details of how you’ve used them (like what you’ve added to your Favorites so far and why!) to learn more about your experience.

If you haven’t tried the new features yet, learn how to request an invite to Public Preview on our Help Center.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

RXShorty — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 15:48:05 GMT

Hi @KiiFromGoogle

Currently, I mostly use the favorites tab, which also shows not only rooms and devices but complete functions.

Camera --> one tap away from all your cameras
Ligthning --> one tap away from all your lights and easy way to turn everything off
WiFi --> All your WiFi settings within reacht
Climate --> Showing the Nest thermostats and Daikin Airco units I got.

The only thing missing from the Favorites is adding groups of devices instead of individual devices at the overview. 😊

Still have to dive into the automation part... It should replace the automation done in the Hue app so I can combine it with more smart devices. 😎

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

MplsCustomer — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 17:30:28 GMT

Why is Google Nest telling customers to request an invite to the Public Preview when Google Nest has not been honoring any requests for at least 3 weeks now? As with many other customers, we requested an invite over 3 weeks ago and have heard nothing.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

RXShorty — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 18:56:21 GMT

Hi @MplsCustomer

Sorry to hear your preview isn't available yet.

I got access for a few weeks now as some friend, not sure what the criteria are.
Let's hope you will get the invite soon. 😊

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

kunal22 — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 23:29:28 GMT

Any update on letting more people into the preview? I requested as soon as it was made available on iOS 3 weeks ago, but still no access yet.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

KiiFromGoogle — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 23:44:23 GMT

Hi @kunal22 and @MplsCustomer, We're slowly rolling out access to Public Preview, and invite requests are being reviewed regularly on an ongoing basis. We appreciate your patience!

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

Goldchef — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 05:55:25 GMT

I am having an issue with automations. I am trying to use the play music action and it worked once, but now I am getting an error saying it needs my voice match. The starter is smart switch being turned on. Whether I turn the switch on with my voice or through the app I get the same message. I retrained my voice match and an still getting the error.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

Sean123 — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 11:12:32 GMT

My favorite is the new material design 3 design the stable design was kind of material design 2 which seem outdated for me

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

lextron — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 02:18:54 GMT

I am not in the Public Preview, but saw some new Routine starters show up in my app. One new starter is (Nest battery) Doorbell Ring, but I'm really hoping and wondering if Camera sightings will soon be added as Routine starters. Can you share if that is on the near horizon? For me, that would have a lot more utility for thief-deterring automation than a doorbell ring.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

OMG23 — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 20:16:47 GMT

I like the Public preview so far... I would like the ability to sort my devices on the favorites tab. More Starters and being able to use conditions in Routines would be even better.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

xtimex — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 08:55:38 GMT

2 months ago it was said that the new application will contain triggers for motion sensors, where is?

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

Laurencreeden — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 04:02:40 GMT

So far it's a small step up from before. My favorite part is the favorites page and having the allowance to view my 2 cameras live feed simultaneously. The one thing I'd like to see is my ability to move my "linked to google" devices into other rooms

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

fabnapp — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 11:57:24 GMT

Favorite thing so far is that Matter kinda works now. Loads of things to do still like syncing with Apple home and Alexa (sorry, nobody uses Samsung), enabling Hue Matter bridges and joining existing Thread networks but still you are silber medal of the big ones

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

xtimex — Sat, 31 Dec 2022 05:26:25 GMT

Nobody?☹️

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

Rockywwf — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 21:50:51 GMT

I signed up for the preview on my iPhone at the very beginning and have yet to experience the preview. When I check I am signed up but nothing yet. Are they limiting iOS users? I’ve been complaining about the current horrible Home app via Googles feedback for a while now. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t invited. 🤣

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

MplsCustomer — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 22:09:03 GMT

@Rockywwf

You're not alone. I waited a month and then finally cancelled my request.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

RobInOtown — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 15:23:41 GMT

Got invite. When I press the "Join Public Preview" button, I get an "Unable to save settings" error. Any suggestions?

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

Laurencreeden — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 06:24:00 GMT

If i remember correctly, it isnt instantaneous and takes a day or so. See if you can update app in the meantime

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

Rob22 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 19:49:39 GMT

To be honest, this is kinda a mess and I am amazed google even put this out to try. It is an attempt to polish an awful user experience with an updated UI. But in the process of that, there are essential things that were either ignored or eliminated. Promised as a big step forward but unfortunately a lazy step sideways. Few things of note:

1 - If you want to set up an automation to say, idk, shut off a large portion of your lights at night but leave on the front light. You have to go in and add an action for every.single.one. No, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying you have to select every single one, bc sure. That makes sense. You have to follow this flow: 'add action' > "adjust home devices' > 'select a single device like lightswitch or individual light bulb' > "turn on or off' > 'add action'. FOR EVERYTHING. Now imagine you have decently equipped smart home with 20-40 lights, switches, etc. You would have to do that 40 freaking times! It's insane. Instead of setting up the action of 'on command' > "turn off/turn on" > select all devices that apply.
2 - You can no longer set up speaker groups.

3 - When you scroll in a group with multiple speakers, wherever you touch to get lower on the page, that speaker will get adjusted. False inputs run rampant in the app. Speakers, light levels, toggles. It's as if they forgot you have to touch the screen in order to move it on a mobile device. Entry level dev polish is non-existent, even outside of the preview program.

4 - If you go into a room and want to adjust the last light in the group, you can't because there isn't any padding on the bottom of the page. This has been the case for >3 years.

5 - Personal/household routines didn't exist before, but now everything is set up as a personal routine, but can't be turned into a household routine for whatever reason. So automations that were working fine across devices a month or so ago, now only work on the device they were created.

6 - Home/Away automations don't have the same abilities as every other automation. These actually work, for some reason, like the #1 suggestion above. Except, not all devices are available, and only the most basic actions can be used. For example. I can't turn on my roomba when everyone leaves bc.... who knows. But if I set up a routine to do this with a different trigger word, it works fine. Except you can't turn on your security cameras. 🙄 You also can't adjust the trigger word.

7 - Can't trigger a routine when unlocking a door. Would be nice for the lights to turn on when the door unlocks.

8 - Can't set up constraints of when to automate or run something. A simple if this than that command would go a long way. A la, if motion is detected in living room, but it's during the day, don't turn on lights. Pretty much every single other company with a virtual assistant has had this capability for years.

All and all I feel like I bet wrong on my smart home system. I have a dozen google speakers and displays across my house and I am constantly contemplating throwing them all away and starting fresh.

Re: What’s your favorite part of the Public Preview so far?

Mebunkeryou — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 03:09:31 GMT

Agree with Rob on the automations tab and needing to scroll through everyone of your outlets/switches to create and automation. Much better on classic app that listed every device and toggled on/off/leave.

Favorites would be nice if my arlo cameras would pull up live stream.

No automation for motion on nest doorbell. Really?!?!?

Unfortunately I'll stick with ST and IFTTT until google brings their products up to 2019 standards.