Discontinuing calling between home devices as of feb 2024?

[Camcom]

Hub and mIni device to device calling DISCONTINUED?? Answers please!

Life has been great and super convenient... We have Google minis , and hubs set up in most parts of the house or bedrooms.  To simplify communication, we use them for Calling from room to room as in an intercom system. My Google mini announced that in February 2024 the device to device calling will be discontinued and only broadcast ability would be available. I Haven't been able to find any information to expand upon this.  Firstly, I am incredibly disappointed. This is a step backwards in technology and accessability features that google Prides itself in. Secondly i'm incredibly annoyed. I can't find any information about This Feature change. Does anyone have any information?

[JillG]

Hi @Camcom 

Here's the Help Center article with all the info and also the Blog post from the Assistant team.

Please send feedback about any changes you want to comment on! Just tell your device to share feedback and record your message.

[Ricktaylor44]

My view is it is absolutely unacceptable to stop calling between Google Hubs.  This is the primary reason I bought them as I can communicate between homes.  You can still do this with the Alexa Hub so I will be switching and tossing my Google hubs in the trash.  

[CJ411]

Agreed. I have various hub devices and a Pixel phone but if this isn't resolved before I am ready to upgrade my phone, I'm moving to an iPhone and Alexa devices.

[gooworsewithage]

I'm moving to an iPhone

---

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

[CJ411]

I have a Samsung Note for work and it's a bit odd. I had iPhone for years but when Apple got rid of the headphone jack, I moved to a Pixel as they kept the headphone jack and said they would....well, a few year later they no longer had the headphone jack. Seems like a common theme with Google nowadays.

[Fende]

Same... and i had just switched from Amazon devices to Google and gave it all away. 😞

Also, interesting fact... try googling this issue... can't find it in any results.  That's strange.  😉

[John123321]

This is ridiculous we use calls to other rooms all the time the product we brought (30 of them) was partial for this feature so do we get half the money back as we can now use half the software originally advertised?

[Larsstille]

Thanks JillG,

But your Links do not answer the question above.

This is not an advancement or an improvement its only taking away a feature without providing any reason or alternatives.

My Feeling is that this is now taken away and the feature might be introduced again later with another name and under a payed model.

If that's the case just let us know and be open about it.

I think the preparation of this feature going away, could have been better done for your users. I am sure you know who was using this feature in the past and you could have given these users an earlier heads up when you made the descion to turn off this feature. This might be something to consider for similar future cases.

Can someone please just answer if there is an alternative existing or anything planned or if we users need to find another solution for this without google?

Thanks in advance,

Lars

[Ricktaylor44]

My understanding you you have to switch to the Amazon product. Google isn’t going to respond. They killed  Dropcam in similar fashion. They don’t care. Period.  

[WhyDidYouKillIt]

What on earth have you done!? This is absurd. A key feature of this product - and its removal affects those who have invested the most.

This was the best possible solution to a "smart speaker in every room" - with its mic on/off switch for privacy and the ability to call into home and out from it as well as from room to room.

Our family loved it and we recommended it to others who spent out as well.
Now we're feeling tricked by the company and nobody has a decent answer for why it's happening.

Honestly - we should have just gone with Echo like other friends.

[FrustratedUser9]

Hey, JillG.  Appreciate your initial response.  Are you going to respond to any of these comments?  I basically invested in these devices for the purpose of having access to this feature.  And it's a feature which, fairly obviously, is fundamental to the product.  Some insight would be appreciated.

[Agrivaine]

I used this feature to call my family during the week.  Google is constantly letting us down. Making us look like fools for trusting them!

[kenjix3c]

I think this is not fair as it helps me call my kids for dinner and my wife when I'm away from my 0hone in the house. It's a major feature so why is it going away? We really do need answers and clarifications 

[WhyDidYouKillIt]

Exactly this. If this were X or Reddit I'm sure someone would say "first world problems" and mock the idea we have to return to the old fashioned ways, but this is a tech company abritrarily removing features from products we have invested in.

For us, it's like removing the ability to call from a telephone.

[Gregynard]

Why would they want to remove this feature. This really helps my visually impaired brother communicate with us from his room and when we are away from home. 

[yousafsajjad]

This is very disappointing. We use google home device call feature a lot throughout the day. 

[AnkurBedi]

This feature was really helpful. When we go away, we don't want to leave the phone with our kids as they keep playing games on it or watch movies and shows.

This was a very convenient way to very in touch with them without giving them a phone.

[ABED]

I don't understand that. I basically filled the house rooms with minis for that reason. 

[Boompie]

I also bought a mini for every room, because of this function. Is there any way I can get a refund?

[WhyDidYouKillIt]

I feel tricked by them. What do they gain??

[skeptikal]

This is honestly infuriating.
I invested heavily into Google Home and its ecosystem since early 2019.
The most significant functions I needed and still use are Family Bell (as an ADHD life assistant / reminder broadcaster) and room-to-room calling/intercom.
Both of these core features/functions are being disabled abruptly with no in-kind replacement?

Google... I really don't want to go to Amazon.  I really don't...

[Larsstille]

Same question from my side..Our main use case was calling Google Devices from the outside. We just bought a nest hub max and another nest mini in addition to 2 existing minis..

Is there maybe now another way to call google devices from the outside that was just not provided from Google inside the message of discontinueing the current method?

@Google please provide some Feedback here.

[rossco33100]

I don't have a home phone. I use the nest hub max as a way to call my kids when they're home & I'm going to be late, or to see if they need anything from the store if I'm going, etc.

What's the point of just switching a feature off?!

[gooworsewithage]

Google does not care. They are degrading the Home offering bit by bit so they can eventually murder it entirely, as is custom. The gambit of making it actually useful to lure people in so they can sell data hasn't paid off, as there is little value in data regarding when people turn lights and air conditioners on and off.

[CJ411]

It is utter bullsh¡t that we invest in an ecosystem like this and they ruin it. I'm going to be seeking full refunds for 2 Nest Audio, 4 Google minis, 3 Hub Max's, 3 Hubs, 5 wired cameras, 1 outdoor wireless camera, Google Mesh Wifi, 1 Pixel Tablet with dock, a Nest Doorbell, and Pixel 7 Pro phone. Amazon keeps progressing features and Google goes backwards.

Fellow users, a Class Action lawsuit seems to be in order.

[Promexx]

I just bought 2 devices Nest Hub 2 & Mini with the main reason to be able to communicate easier and when I did a test call, the device informed me that at the end of this month (4 days from now) it wont be possible anymore 😞

[davesib]

We bought a Google Nest for my wife's art studio so that we could call each other whenever necessary.  It was the main reason we bought the thing now Google (in their infinite wisdom) have decided to dump the feature because.

What earthly reason could they have? Does it cost them money?

Does anyone know if Alexa provides this function?

[eshack]

I’ve been wanting this feature forever and settled with broadcast instead. Broadcast stinks because it’s not 2 way. 

i just learned about the calling feature only to then learn its being discontinued?

The Amazon pucks had calling long before the Google devices did and now it’s getting yanked.  I bet you the majority of users didn’t even know calling was added as an alternative to broadcast. I certainly didn’t. 

[FrustratedUser9]

This is infuriating. I have several Nest Hubs for exactly this reason. I’ve also been trying find information about why an essential feature is being discontinued for seemingly no reason.

It’ll be annoying and expensive, but I’ll switch over to Amazon, leaving my Nest doorbell as my only Google product. And when it’s time to replace that, Google will be gone from my house entirely.

It’s a shame. The Nest Hub is a good product.  Why cheapen it (and make a bunch of us feel ripped off)?

[Cfr]

Just bought a few of these devices for this reason. They are still in their return period though...

[topaxx]

Why Google doing this? Im very disappointed. I will not tolearate this and going to sell all my google home accessories. Just switch to Alexa. 

[davesib]

Hey Google - Are you going to respond to any of these comments?

[Max84]

The function still works for me.

[RGH]

Absurd.  I Started with a google phone and loved how the google cloud and storage was so seamless.  Switched from Ring to Nest doorbell.  I even bought about 5 Minis soley for the reason of the 'intercom'.  This is ridiculous.  I really really dont want an echo but seems I have to get a couple, at least for my office to communicate. 

So silly 

[Cfr]

The absurt part is the lies they tell about it.

It's removed to make space for new functions.

What exactly did they remove?? The whole function to call to Duo devices still exists.. doesn't really matter whether that other duo device is a phone or another Nest, does it?

So stupid this.

[Jherid]

Can't really add anything other than the frustration that this function is now really gone. In fact, only got the notification in March that it would be discontinued from February. Funny that, especially as we have been using it quite a bit lately. Also just expanded our setup with another mini, discovered this just too late to return it. 

Edit: actually, I'm pretty pissed off. Nursing a week old baby and just today already had two moments where I'm pinned down with no hands available while feeding the little one where I tried to call my wife in another room to discuss something, just to be reminded that now I actually can't.

[kenjix3c]

Same with me this weekend. I have 2 6 month old twins and while I had my hands full with them, needed to call my wife who was in the kitchen and so happens to not carry her phone with her wherever she goes, I couldn't call her to please get more milk or food or anything. I was infuriated. 4 minis and 2 Google tvs and I can't reach my wife. The normal broadcast feature does not send my message half the time even. Sucks honestly 

[skeptikal]

I have had 3 more Google Hubs in a shopping cart for the last couple of months.

I'm super glad my budget had me waiting to click buy... didn't expect Google to up and kill Home and Assistant so suddenly.

Still, it's over $2k in Google Home hardware since 2019, counting cameras, that's all kind of not worth the price or hassle.

I just realized that they Family Broadcasts are on that list.

So room-to-room calling; using your Hubs for voice-controlled cooking/YouTube displays; Family Broadcasting; and reading/sending text messages using Assistant from Android Auto...

I mean... with all due respect, what the ****?

I cannot understand what Google is trying to do from a community trust perspective.

I can possibly see the early phase-out of these features as part of phasing them over to a Gemini-based swap out from the existing Assistant, but if that's the case then the messaging (or lack thereof, rather) really is pushing me away from Google.

I and my kids have google-everything... I can't move to Apple; there's no viable path forward other than home-rolling an assistant and automation system.

[Dawid_D]

I bought Google devices mainly with the intention of contacting my family in different places in the house. It's impossible now. I feel cheated and robbed because all these devices cost a lot and are now practically thrown away. I am disappointed.

In the 21st century, communication between people is the basis. And now someone at Google has decided to take it away from us, to take away this possibility in our own home, without even explaining what the point of it is. I'm waiting for the doorbell to stop ringing because this functionality will be taken away.

There seems to be no choice but to switch to Alexa.