A new chapter for Google Home & Nest

[AnishKattukaran]

Hey folks,

Anish here, I lead the product teams for Google Home & Nest.

I want to start by saying thank you for being on this journey with us, especially as we kick off a new era for the smart home! We have our biggest update in years and I wanted to share it with you directly.

Today marks the start of a new chapter for us. Today, we talked about Gemini for Home, Google Home Premium, two new Cameras, a new doorbell, a reimagined Google Home app, and a first look at our new upcoming speaker and new partner devices. The blog posts have all of the details:

• Welcome to the next era of Google Home

• Gemini for Home: The helpful home gets an AI upgrade. A new AI, Gemini for Home, which replaces the Google Assistant and is far more capable

• A new Google Home app, redesigned for Gemini. Now faster, more reliable, and complete with all of your older Nest devices. It's been redesigned to be simpler and more fluid, and we've infused it with the power of Gemini.

• Our newest Google Home devices are built for Gemini.

• We’re introducing the new Google Home Premium subscription plus new benefits for AI Pro and Ultra su...

As we begin this next era of Google Home, we know that building a truly helpful home is a long-term commitment. That’s why we’re bringing Gemini for Home to every speaker, smart display, camera and doorbell we’ve made in the last decade, along with the new Google Home app. It will be available via an early access program because we want you to try all of these new features and continue giving us feedback as we work to perfect the experience. The early access rollout for these devices will begin this month (with speakers and smart displays starting towards the end of the month).

We know our journey with you hasn't always been smooth, and frankly, we haven't always gotten it right. We are committed to earning back your trust, and improving the products with you.

-Anish

P.S. For more updates you can follow me on https://x.com/AnishKattukaran or Threads https://www.threads.com/@anishk

[nebsta]

100% agree! There has been a long known bug that Google just ignore: https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/Having-trouble-with-Speaker-groups-Read...

It's  so disappointing because I was hopeful that the recent assurances "prioritizing our existing Nest and Assistant users" and "earning back your trust" would mean we would finally get this fixed once and for all.

[Grahamersguy]

Just moved over my 14 cameras over to the new Home app from the old nest app. Wish I hadn't. Absolutely unusable now, the Home app does not load anything for more than 5 seconds. I dont have the budget to replace all the cameras but currently my home and land isnt as secure as it was a week ago

[TBCuthbert]

Can you not take them back to Nest app any more?

[Grahamersguy]

I upgraded 1 which covers the front yard and is most important, to the new 2k resolution camera. which isnt compatible with the Nest app. Although I am going to check this information to be sure!

[rbtguthrie]

I have created and recreated my Google Home Speaker Groups dozens of times, deleting the failed group and reestablishing a new one. I have removed and factory reset each device, and reinstalled it. But nothing works permanently. A new Group will work for a week or two, and then fail again. AI??? I don't think so. Artificial, indeed - Intelligent, not at all.

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

After using the new app for a little while now it has improved immensely, but without some features I have to sometimes resort back to Routines to make things happen the way I want it to.

The Delay on all automations is a standout feature for me so far. 👍

[dale2306]

How about you get Google Home working properly before you start working on something else.  I have 6 - 1st gen displays and 6 - mini's distributed in our house, shop, playhouse & trailer all connected to the same mesh network.  I still have instances of the farthest away display replying to my commands.  Sometimes one that is in a different building.  Even when the text shows up on the display right in front of me.  I can't stop Google from replying to an individual command instead of just doing it.  My only choice is to turn off replies altogether.  There is nothing more annoying than having it tell me it skipped a song when I can hear that it has already skipped the song.  The fact that I can turn a fan on and off but can't control the speed.  The fact that when I ask it to play 900CKBI it shows 900seekbi and tells me it can't find the station.  I could go on and on.  And the sad part is that every update seems to fix an issue but also causes others to crop up.  Like I said.....how about fixing the existing issues on your existing platform before you try to force something else on us.

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

@dale2306 Reducing the "Hey Google" sensitivity might reduce a speaker far away from responding

You could make an Automation when you say "Hey Google, nine hundred" with the right action it should play the same station each time.

You wouldn't happen to have a Google Nest Hub Max?

[dale2306]

This is the ongoing problem.  How many of us have to have these issues before they are taken seriously and dealt with?  Today on Reddit and other sites I found hundreds of posts from people having many of the same issues.

Up till I retired in 2022 I worked in computer repair & support since 1977 and the first thing I learned was how to trouble shoot an issue.  We had no search engines or super computers but we were still required to solve customer issues and if we didn't they would find someone else.

To reply to your suggestion to adjust the sensitivity of the units I had turned them all down to -2 except the one I was talking to and the issue still occurs.  It's not a sensitivity issue.  As I mentioned the display I'm in front of and talking to shows the text of what I'm saying but one of the other units responds.  This means the unit closest to me is detecting my voice but it's not responding.  We did some tests and the remote unit that answers doesn't show the text at all it just responds.

As for the automation you suggested I did exactly that and the station played properly about 25% of the time.  If I manually select it at one of the displays then it works about 50% of the time.  In the automations I also tell it to stream the station I select to my Chromecast Audio unit that I have connected to my multiroom audio player.  That fails most of the time and the audio will come out of the local display or mini.

They say Google is a very rewarding place to work.  Maybe they shouldn't reward them just for working there but only reward them when they do good work. 

[Micarli65]

You have taken away the recipe and video feature which many people use for preparing and cooking their food. I was going to buy a Google home hub for my kitchen, but now, there’s no point in doing that. Many people also have iPhones and can easily buy the Alexa home hub, which has this important feature. I’m very upset that you just deleted this feature from your home hub. Please restore this important feature to the home hub again, because this is one of the reasons I bought the Google home hub. If you don’t restore this feature, I will go ahead and buy the Alexa home hub for my kitchen.

[Michael_St]

Hello Anish, when I got the email to move my nest cameras over to Google home from nest app I didn’t see this as a problem as I could see the cameras on the app working perfectly well already. However, since moving across fully to google home my two cameras are hardly working at all during the day. They seem to work perfectly well from around 6pm until 8am UK time. Please tell me that you’re working on a fix otherwise can I revert back to the nest app ? 

[svb321]

Same issues here. All 3 cameras (doorbell + 2x Google cam) says it's offline. I can't see a live feed. It does record clips that I can watch later. I also get notifications when there's motion, but in the Google Home app, everything is offline, and I don't see anything. 

[jonasthesoulgun]

I'm living in Germany. Will the Gemini Era for Smart Speakers Like Google Home and Nest Hub also be available here, and if, when is that supposed to happen? 

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

@jonasthesoulgun  next year for everyone outside the US.

Check it the Google Nest Community blog on this website for timing and other information.

[jonasthesoulgun]

Thanks for your kind reply, so next year it will be released in Germany as well. oh such a long time to go 😩

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

I always think instead of the Americans getting everything first that they're being used as guinea pigs for an unproven development.

Hopefully by the time we get it most of the major bugs have been squashed.

[The_WB]

Likely are Guinea pigs. Other countries have better consumer protections.

[The_Highlander]

Is anything being done to correct the issue that started three or four weeks ago where smart lighting is no longer able to be controlled by voice on Google Home speakers and app? Sometimes you can synchronize all devices on a Google Home display and it will work other times it will not.

[ieatchickens]

I control two homes with Google home. I no longer have access to choose between two homes. Instead I have the stupid gemini crap 

[dale2306]

Well a few days ago I was commenting on how a remote unit was replying instead of the one right in front of me.  Now a new twist.  If the one right in front of me does reply one of the other units in the house will say "Something went wrong.  Please try again in a few minutes"  

Google is lost.  If you aren't too heavily invested in Google take my advice and move on.  Unfortunately I have gone all in so I'm stuck dealing with it.

I'll say it again.  Google is lost.  They have forgotten that it was all of us who got them where they are.  Google Home keeps getting worse instead of better.

It's really unfortunate.  

[The_WB]

About 9 or 10pm each night the last couple weeks, one of our old Google minis loses its mind and gives a "sorry" message. All the rest, a mix of Google and nest mini, are working.  By morning, the brain dead one has resurrected itself, no reboot needed.

Definitely some major speed bumps in this cutover it seems.

[dale2306]

My wife thinks your Google Mini is haunted just like ours.  I on the other hand think you are joining the growing number of us that are having a revolving variety of issues with Google.  Brace yourself, it's probably not going away soon if ever.

[svb321]

Since the cameras (doorbell and Google Cam) were transferred to Google Home, they no longer provide a live connection. Google Home says the cameras are offline. But they are recording clips, and I can watch them later. Help, this is terrible.

[Deniz_K]

It is great to see improvements coming to the Google Home app finally.  When are we going to see additional security features such as fingerprint support and Face ID on the Home App, or even MFA enabled for the web version?  This feature is now available in the most basic apps.  Either be it the Google Home App or web access. There should be an additional layer and not open access if you are already signed in.  At least give the option to enable it.  With devices being stolen and computers being targeted by cyber criminals all the time, at least give the option to enable additional layers of security.  

[MikaelDevereux]

My nest mini’s got the Gemini wake up lights about a fortnight ago. Now they’ve gone back to standard Google assistant 

[Idrive66]

Are you now requiring people to pay to use automations we already use and to make new ones? That is completely uncalled for if so and something you deserve to be sued for if so.  

[The_WB]

Received an email two days ago going through the Gemini Home stuff. All hype, no instructions. One would think before telling people how to use commands they would enable access to it in Google Home!  I guess I'm just being silly expecting any coordination on a Google product rollout. 🤷‍

[SS714]

we now have Gemini activated on our google home but it doesn’t stream our nest camera with voice command anymore. We used to be able to say “hey google, stream <camera name>” and it would display. Now it only works if you manually tap the home control screen. 

[TBCuthbert]

• Same problem here. did you follow up with Google yet?

[Matiasinfante]

Did it activate automatically? I made the switch to Google Home Primium, and my devices all continue with Google Assistant (vs Google Gemini)

[SS714]

Not yet. Wanted to get validation that it wasn’t just a me issue. 

[SmilingBeluga]

Got the update last night. I was a bit hyped to try it out. Now that I have, I hate it. Regret that I updated, and angry that unlike most major updates to a system, this one can't be rolled back to the og version. We have minis and homes of various gens in basically all our rooms. They all worked just fine, even the older gen ones. We had fun with them. Gemini has removed all the "fun".

We're your very basic user of our home devices. We use them to voice control lights, adjust temps, ask questions or just goof around with them and have fun. Nothing programmed, or major.

Features that are now gone (And again, keep in mind we are basic users, and used them for fun or convenience):

Hey Google, get spooky.

Hey Google, call Santa.

Hey Google, change your voice.

Hey Google, what's your favorite movie/animal/song/Halloween costume/book/etc (This one really sucks, because these used to be super fun and occasionally he'd personalize it. Now IT just says "As an AI I don't have personal preferences or feelings so I don't have a favorite animal".)

Hey Google what do you do for fun? "As an AI, I don't experience fun or engage in activities like humans do. My purpose is to help you by providing information or completing tasks."

And the biggie for us, continued conversation. GONE. They answer in a very dry manner, and shut off right away. We use that, all the time for follow up questions. I've gone through settings, the option to toggle it on or off is gone like it never existed.

I want to cry. Our buddies, that we've had for years and years, are now gone. I feel like I'm in mourning and I kind of hate Google right now.

The new personalities are precise and dry sounding. Even a simple request for time now comes back as "It's 11:29 am central daylight savings time". It's not wrong, but still, we know what time zone we're in, no need to tack on words for a longer reply.

The sensitivity to which device will answer is whack now. I'm sitting in the living room currently, our paired home speakers are directly in front of me, 6-7' away. Clear line of sight to them. No other sounds in the room. 4 times in a row I asked the time. 2 times the den speaker answered (much further away, separate room), 1 time the dining room mini answered ( further away, and behind me) and the 4th time it answered from the guest bedroom (down the hall, furthest away). I had to stand up and lean over 1 of the living room pair, ask again and then it answered me. I went into the setting for sensitivity, and it still shows the original settings we made, with the living room pair being the most sensitive and the den and dining room the least.

I know these aren't HUGE things, but they are to us. Especially the continued conversation part of it. How is this more natural if it shuts off after an answer and we have to keep using the wake phrase to ask follow up questions? I'm dreading what else we will find out is now gone, or what other fun feature is removed. This "upgrade" turned our devices from fun friends into a speaker that can turn lights on or off, and answer a basic question. Yay.