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

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

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.

42 REPLIES 42

RXShorty
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

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. 😎

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

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.

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. 😊

I love you all brother's and sisters thanks God bless you all 

kunal22
Community Member

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.

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

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!

Goldchef
Community Member

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.

TTE
Community Member

Seems as though your issue is best reported in a section where they troubleshoot routines. This thread is about feedback re the new Preview.

Sean123
Community Member

My favorite is the new material design 3 design the stable design was kind of material design 2 which seem outdated for me

 

 

 

 

lextron
Community Member

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. 

TTE
Community Member

This is a feature request, which is best requested through other Google Nest Community topics.

OMG23
Community Member

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.

xtimex
Community Member

2 months ago it was said that the new application will contain triggers for motion sensors, where is?Screenshot_20221219-091541.jpg

xtimex
Community Member

Nobody?☹️

Laurencreeden
Community Member

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

fabnapp
Community Member

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

Rockywwf
Community Member

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.  🤣

@Rockywwf 

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

RobInOtown
Community Member

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

Laurencreeden
Community Member

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

Rob22
Community Member

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. 

Mebunkeryou
Community Member

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. 

Smcmlln
Community Member

I like the redesign of the app. More could be done with it. One thing I would like to see is in the favorites page. Some rooms have multiple bulbs and I would like to favorite the room as a group and not individual bulbs. For instant I would like to see my laundry room as a room as a favorite instead of 2 individual bulbs.  At point I would be able to control both bulbs simultaneously with 1 click

 

 

 

TTE
Community Member

For my usage, I am extremely pleased that we can once again control the global volume of a named group of speakers. I also agree that the UI needs some serious help. IFTTT-like conditions are beyond overdue. And creating/managing routines is unnecessarily cumbersome. We need to be able to create areas or zones, like Philips Hue has done, to describe and encompass an area within a room. Currently, we're limited to only "device" and "room". 

lotusmad2001
Community Member

My main problem is that the camera previews don't work. So when looking at my home screen on the new app the cameras are empty boxes. I have submitted a topic on this very forum but to no success

 

 

I can say that the live camera views on the favorites screen work for me. I am using the newer Google Nest Battery Cams.

Mine are original nest cameras, I'm waiting for the nest doorbell wired to release in the UK before I finally move to a Google account.

 

Still no reason why the preview shouldn't work though

TTE
Community Member

Wasn't there a start banner in the app, for weeks, advising that certain camera previews were not yet fully supported? On my end, it's gone now, but this app has rolling releases. YMMV.

TheEnquisitor
Community Member

I believe in Home Automation and there is nothing I would like more than to have an all in one app that can link and enable me to automate my home.

Who designed the Google Home App and how has there been no improvements to the user experience to date?

I have my smart alarm, door bells, camera, thermostat, tv, philips hue, smart speakers all linked up. 

Here is my direct feedback...The App is suppose to look friendly and not like a developer tool kit. What do I mean by that? It means I just want to be able to see and use the things with as little clicks as possible.

  • In the Favourites tab, all my lights are grouped. I need to click into it. Ok, I am then presented with a giant on/off to control all my lights. How often does one do that in real life?
  • My lights are grouped by rooms only. Ok, so two clicks for me to see the room my light is in.... but wait, I have bedside lamps and ceiling lights and I don't want to turn them all on at once. I can't create subgroups so now I have to click to expand then turn each light on individually and repeat to turn it off via the app. Expected behaviour is... In the favourites I have my bedroom and then I click bedside table. Or better yet, since its favourites I just click bedside table shortcut (philips hue app can do this).
  • Thermostat - In the favourites there is a section called Climate with X Device. As a user, I just want a tile that says the temperature and or humidity with words saying which room. I click in it and it gives me the same functionality as in nest app.
  • I can set camera previews in favourites but I am still forced to see a big "cameras" tile at the top... why..?
  • The controls for the linked devices are so limited currently that you cannot do any sophisticated automation in the house. The only one I personally wanted was to automatically arm and disarm my alarm during a certain time but my journey ended with a security restriction.
  • In the devices page, it literally just lists every device linked which means every sensor for my alarm, speaker, tv, doorbell, thermostat is just listed and catergorised by room. There is nothing here or in the app that makes me think unifying everything makes life easier. I can't even change channel on TV, can't send notifications.
  • Not many people need automation to turn on tv and control volume only. Or turn On/Off all their lights in one go. This app looks like it was designed by a developer and in need of some UX design.

In summary, the ability to automate is limited by only having access to overly basic functionality for linked devices or security restrictions. The UI hasn't really been thought through for users to enjoy. If I cannot automate or benefit from using my linked devices all under one app then what is the purpose apart from I am forced to use it because the Nest app is being retired which actually looks and works great.

I am being harsh because I feel user feedback is never really prioritised and that a lot of attention is given in the backend that whilst that is great.... There is no point to having a gold plated backend if users don't want to use it.

BuckDaddy
Community Member

Well I like the camera preview but I don't understand why my nest home max display camera isn't previewable.  It's quite new and has better camera then the indoor cam that IS able to be previewed Livestreamed.  You should fix that yo

Buck

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

I have been using the PREVIEW and GOOGLE HOME FOR WEB for quite a long time.  But I see very few (if any) changes when it comes to Nest Cameras.   Any idea when this will move out of Preview and into full release?  And any idea when we will be able to view recorded events on Google Home for web?   SO MANY features from the nest app are still missing and the clock has been ticking for many months now.  

Couldn’t agree more with you.  The Nest app assimilation into the new Google Home preview.

I agree.
The lack of ability to record clips from the newer cameras is a real problem.
We have had several incidents that don't appear as events that we needed the clips to send to the police.
The ability to record and save security camera footage seems pretty fundamental. Even the police when at the house were shocked at security cameras that cant save video! Almost makes them useless for security.

lvl777
Community Member

anyone know how to access the script editor for editing routines/automation? that's the main reason i opted to join the public preview. I learned about it here, but can't seem to find out how to access the script editor, even via Google home on the web.

https://www.androidcentral.com/accessories/smart-home/what-is-the-home-automation-script-editor-for-... 

OMG23
Community Member

I believe that still hasn’t been released, but I could be wrong.

DWB1973
Community Member

Is there a setting within the Public Preview for adjusting the detection radius of presence sensing?

EmptyNester
Gold Product Expert
Gold Product Expert

There is no such option.  And to the best of my memory NEST cams have never had that feature.

Hmm, that's disappointing. You're right, it has not yet been an available setting but I was hoping that it would've been added to the new app. It seems like a large oversight from the dev team. Thanks for answering.

SarkastikMagi
Community Member

I'm noticing issues in the Google Home app UI, is this a known issue? This is what it looks like on my Pixel 6 when trying to configure a custom automation. 

Screenshot_20230329-002931.png