Whats the point of Google Home, add a “home”

[_asilvalife]

As a user, why am allowed to have multiple “homes”? Asking this because it seems to raise a lot off issues when two homes are involved.

I bought my mother a google assistant, TP Link bulbs, Hue lights, and I visit fairly often despite the drive. I ask her to add me to her home to help make adjustments as needed, but when i go back to my home… and I say “Google, turn on Living Room lights”, turns on her lights, or “set thermostat to 70 degrees” it modifies her thermostat and not my nest thermostat.

I mean, dont multiple houses have redundant titles for things. “Garage”, “Living Room” Kitchen, bathroom… are all room titles for each individual house, why cant my assistant recognize i’m referring to my thermostat/living room and not my mom’s.

i’d expect the assistant to respond only modify devices within a specific house, only within this house. Even if a 2nd home has a device name in reference being made from a device in the 1st home. Or am I misinterpreting the use of this feature. 

[Juni]

Hi _asilvalife,

Thanks for posting here in the Google Nest Community.
 

That certainly hasn’t been easy for you. Let’s check what’s going on. Are the devices named the same in both houses? If so, you need to rename each device uniquely so you won’t end up controlling devices to the other home if you're not there. Check the steps below on how to change your device name.

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Touch and hold your device's tile.
3. At the top right corner, tap Settings Device information Device name.
4. Enter a new name tap Save.

Check this link for more information.
 

Hope this helps.
 

Regards,

Juni

[Azarco]

Hey there,

We wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help. Let us know if you are still having any trouble from here, as we would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Best,

Alex

[Azarco]

Hello _asilvalife,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within the day. If you have any new issues, updates or just a discussion topic, feel free to start a new thread in the Community.

Thanks,

Alex

[_asilvalife]

Hey Juni, i can confirm that some names are different, for instance I have a Nest Thermostat currently name Main Room Thermostat, and mom has an ecobee thermostat named exactly that, ecobee.

But Saying “adjust the temperature to 65”, i dont make reference to the device name to control specific thermostat. It automatically assumes a thermostat, and the wrong thermostat at that.

Anywho, I removed the additional home to avoid controlling the wrong device. The last thing i want is to spook an elderly woman. I created this post to understand the feature so when I need to add another home again, i can do it right, talk about how others configure their additional homes, or bring awareness to the issue, if it is an issue.

[111001010101111]

Why would you ask users in two houses to rename their devices instead of improving the functionality to work as one would expect?

The whole point of a smart Google assistant home is to be able to interpret within context. It's not like it's a demanding expectation. 

I'm constantly having to find workarounds for Google products to compensate for things that should be designed properly in the first place, and not released until they do. We are paying for these products. 

Is there an update about when we can expect this to work as intended? 

[Juni]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the responses. As of the moment this is the option that we have. We appreciate people who are keen on sharing their thoughts with us. We're always looking for ways to improve. I'd suggest you submit feedback about it, here's how.

Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks,

Juni

[_asilvalife]

Will be doing so, thank you Juni!

[Princesss]

Hi _asilvalife,

Awesome! Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we'll be locking the thread.

Best,

Princess

[111001010101111]

1. Is a fix for this in progress? Any timeframe for when it may be resolved? 
2. In addition to reporting something in this forum, we also need to send feedback using the method you linked to? 

[Princesss]

Hi 111001010101111,

I really wish we can give you any time frame to when this will be available. Also, it would be very helpful to us if you could send a feedback from your end. That way we can directly collect those feedback from users.

Best,

Princess

[111001010101111]

1. If you can't give a timeframe, can you confirm you're at least working on it? 

2. if you want us to report feedback here, as well as using the "send feedback" feature, what's the point of this product forum? Is it just a support forum? Or you want us to report feedback in both places?