Hi Google Home users,
At Google Home we are on a journey to give users a smart home that is not just simple, fast and reliable but truly helpful. Our investments in Matter and the Google Home app are essential to achieving that goal. Today, we are announcing a number of product updates that get the Google Home app closer to becoming the single best place for you to set up, control and automate all of your compatible devices - Nest devices, Matter devices and thousands of Works with Google Home devices.
New Google Home app to begin rolling out globally to all users
Last fall we shared that we were rebuilding the Home app to give users their home, their way with investments in customization, home automation and an improved camera experience. More than half a million users signed up to try the new app in our Public Preview and share feedback as we worked to improve it. Our teams also invested heavily in improving performance across the board including app load times and camera speed. For example, for Nest cameras that launched in 2021 and later:
- Viewing your live feed for cameras is up to 34% faster than the previous Google Home app experience
- Accessing your camera clips is up to 22% faster than the previous Google Home app experience
Beyond what we previously shared, we are rolling out over 50 improvements and new features including:
- The ability to reorder your Favorites - so you can edit and change the order of your Favorites
- A more helpful Activity tab - where you will find chronological events of your device and camera history
- A new Inbox where you will receive actionable notifications so you don't miss important updates
- A streamlined section for your notification preferences in the Settings tab
- And an easier and more precise vertical scrubbing of your camera events with event labels organized by type, such as person, package, vehicle, activity, or animal.
On Wear OS, we’re bringing your Favorites to your wrist, rolling out improved camera notifications with animated previews for your camera events and more powerful controllers.
The new Home app experience is rolling out on Android and iOS starting tomorrow and will complete rolling out over the next upcoming weeks. Wear OS users will get the new version of the Home app on May 15.
Original Nest Camera support is coming, too
We know you’ve been patiently waiting for our teams to work through transferring some of your most loved devices into the new Google home app. We have an exciting update to share! In July, Public Preview users of the Home app will be able to begin transferring some of our original Nest cameras to the new camera experience in the Home app, starting with first generation Nest Cam Indoor and followed by Nest Cam Outdoor.
Deepening our support for Matter and smart home devices
We’re continuing to deepen our support of Matter. Recently we upgraded the Nest Thermostat after previously rolling out support for Matter in the Home app and Fast Pair on Android.
We’re now expanding Matter support in the Home app to iOS. In the coming weeks, with iOS 16.5, you’ll be able to set up and control your Matter devices in the Google Home app on iOS devices.
We’ve also rolled out new or improved Home app controllers for 60+ types - representing tens of millions of devices - of Matter and Works with Google Home devices, including temperature and motion sensors that can now report their status in the Home app. For the first time you can close your garage door when you are away, open your curtains to a precise height, check whether your washer is in spin cycle before pausing it, toggle the ice maker and other modes on your refrigerator, select the specific color of your lights, start up your smart mower, and even play/pause/fast forward through active media on your smart TV. With these updates users will be able to do more with their devices from one app.
An improved Home app experience for the Pixel Tablet
While the Google Home app has always worked on tablets, we believe that experience could be far more useful and delightful.
Alongside the new Pixel Tablet, we will be rolling out a more optimized version of the Google Home app for tablets. With improvements across all five tabs, other highly used screens across the app and support for landscape and portrait orientations, users will be able to seamlessly navigate their smart home while on their tablet. This even includes support for navigating your camera’s timeline view and event list while in landscape mode. We will first bring these updates to the new Pixel Tablet and Android Tablet users in June, with iOS compatibility to follow later this summer. To discuss the Google Pixel Tablet, visit the new Google Pixel Tablet community.
Introducing the new home panel, a Pixel first experience
We want to make the smart home as fast, simple and reliable as the light switch on your wall. So, we’re excited to introduce a new Google Home integration for Android called the home panel.
The home panel gives you quick, one-tap access to your Google Home, directly from the Android lock screen or quick settings. It will make it faster and easier to control the devices, automations and actions you use most often, such as turn off the lights, adjust the temp or view a camera, without needing to open your device, navigate to the app and find what you’re looking for. For safety and security, the more sensitive device controls require you to unlock your device.
When the new Pixel Tablet is docked and in Hub Mode the home panel can be accessed communally from the screensaver (ie: photo frame, weather or clock). And when someone rings the doorbell, you can also easily see who’s at the front door with a proactive, full screen notification, and quickly answer with Two-way Talk or Quick Responses.
The home panel will roll out as a Pixel first feature to the Pixel Tablet and Pixel phones, including the Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold, next month with the Pixel Feature Drop with Android QPR3. Visit the Google Pixel Tablet community to learn more once the Pixel Tablet is available on shelves on June 20.
More to come
You can expect more helpful features from Google Home. We will continue to innovate and invest in the smart home, so stay tuned to the community for even more updates, and join our discussions in the Home Automation forum.
Anish Kattukaran,
Director of Product Management, Google Home & Nest
