Is it Mandatory to login to a Google Email Account to use Google Home Developer API?

[cherishraffy]

Is it a mandatory requirement to have a Google Home account and sign-in to that Google Home Account in order to use Google Home Developer API both in development and production apps? 

Thanks.

[Suc1 · Accepted solution]

Yes, it is mandatory to have a Google account and be signed in to that account to use the Google Home Developer API, both during development and in production environments. This is required for authentication and authorization purposes, as the API needs to verify your identity and permissions.

For development testing, you'll need a Google account to create a project in the Google Cloud Console, enable the necessary APIs, and generate authentication credentials. For production apps, end users will need to authenticate with their own Google accounts to grant your app access to their Google Home devices and data.

This authentication flow follows OAuth 2.0 standards and helps maintain security across the Google Home ecosystem.

[cherishraffy]

Hi Guys, A quick follow-up question regarding to having to connect to a Google Home account. Does this also applies when using Google Home's cloud-to-cloud Developer API's? Thanks. 

[Suc1]

Yes, Google Home authentication requirements also apply to cloud-to-cloud Developer APIs. When implementing cloud-to-cloud integrations, you still need to use OAuth 2.0 for authorization, which requires end users to have Google accounts and grant permission to your application.

The key difference with cloud-to-cloud integration is that instead of direct device control, you're establishing a secure connection between your cloud service and Google's infrastructure. This still requires authentication through Google accounts to:

1. Verify your application's identity (using project credentials from Google Cloud Console)
2. Authorize access to specific user resources (through OAuth 2.0 tokens)

For service account-based approaches, you'll still need proper Google Cloud project setup with appropriate authentication mechanisms.