Loss of Continued Conversation on Home Devices After Gemini Switch

[Adrock]

I’m writing to express deep frustration with the recent change from Google Assistant to Gemini on my smart-home devices.

Before this forced transition, Google Assistant included a free and essential feature called Continued Conversation, which allowed the Assistant to listen for several seconds after a response for follow-up commands. This made interactions feel natural and fluid, exactly what a voice assistant is supposed to do.

Now that my devices have been switched to Gemini, that same feature has effectively been removed and replaced by Gemini Live, which is only available through a paid Home Premium subscription. In other words, I’ve lost functionality that was previously built into my devices unless I pay an additional $10 per month.

This feels like one step forward and two steps back. Users never had the choice to remain on Google Assistant, and yet a feature that has worked for years is suddenly being treated as a “premium” option. It’s beyond disappointing — it feels unfair and, frankly, deceptive.

From a consumer standpoint, this raises serious concerns:

Google devices were marketed and sold with “Continued Conversation” as part of their advertised functionality.

Users purchased these devices with the expectation that such features were included as part of the product experience.

Removing this capability and putting its replacement behind a paywall feels like a breach of trust, if not bordering on misleading business practice.

I already pay for a Google One subscription, and I strongly believe that Gemini Live should at least be included in that plan, or better yet, offered free to all users as a continuation of the functionality we already had.

Please reconsider this policy. Don’t penalize loyal users for adopting Gemini — especially when the “new” feature simply replaces something that used to be free.

[Krunked]

Sure wish my god **bleep** devices would update so I could use the subscription I pay for. Smh 

[Bear81]

I 100 percent agree. I never liked the Alexa devices because of this very reason. Continued conversation is the primary reason I bought so many Google Home devices, including the Nest Hub. I, too, pay for a Google One subscription. Your recommendation of including it with that sounds more than reasonable if they are going to penalize us for an upgrade we can't remove. It truly is frustrating and I can only hope Google listens to their customers and resolves this issue.

[alllan]

Fully agree.  I am stuck without continue conversation after a brief test of Gemini, then reverting to assistant.  No forewarning.

[metroknowm]

This is increasingly standard MO for Google even within their paid product domains. I am thinking class action lawsuits need to be considered depending on how many times this type of activity has occurred. Specifically with regard to warrantied hardware products that were sold. There may be a warranty of merchantability for a certain period of time, not sure how long this may be considered as viable across states, but I think it's worth looking into to see if we may have a leg to stand on with regard to these increasingly nefarious paywall practices. When previously issued services worked extremely well, the idea they are to be changed simply because Google decides to is a very grimy business practice. When we all purchased a box with hardware and specific features are stated as supported, even though that hardware relies on live services, we are not merely purchasing a license to use that hardware.

[Bear81]

Well stated. I wish they would listen to their customers. There are so many of us who have multiple devices and purchased them because they offered features other ones didn't. Personally, I have four different types. Google has taken a step backwards where the devices I avoided have moved forward. It is frustrating. 

[metroknowm]

Which devices are you now using most?

[Bear81]

The Hub and the Mini...

[SquattingHen]

Umm….Alexa has had this foray least 8 years and it still works today. You just turn it on in settings. 

Gemini lost it. Even the Premium version doesn’t have it anymore. If you want the Gemini chat, you have to say, hey Google let’s chat. Completely different from continued conversation. 

Again, Alexa had had this from before Google and even with or without Alexa plus it works. Also, you don’t have to say let’s chat with Alexa. 

https://youtu.be/TnzInwwRVTw?si=So36U8oP5AG5VF5E

[BrianDivaCox]

We wish u well over at Amazon!  

[SquattingHen]

I have used both since release. Early adopter with echo and had the first google home devices. It would be idiotic not to try both, compare and use what works best. When one falters, like Google is now, only make sense to use the more polished product and service. 

I am not a biased consumer like others who follow a product or brand blindly. 

[devz]

This is driving me nuts. I used continued conversation all the time. This Gemini feels more like a downgrade. 

[Bear81]

For what I use the Google Home devices for, it has been a downgrade.

[uselessusername]

I just had an incident with it that makes it even more infuriating. 

Yesterday I asked it a question, it gave the answer, then immediately gave a message about wanting feedback in the form of a 1-10 rating on the answer AND opened the mic waiting for response, which is the EXACT functionality of continued conversation feature!

So it's fully still there functionally, they just took it away from us as an option, but are still using it for surveys!

[Bconmpls]

Just came to the internet to see if everyone else was mad. I'm with you guys. It's BS.

[Shiyi]

There is no way to revert back right?

[Nick2323]

I wholeheartedly agree that this is a downgrade! I am not paying any money just to have a conversation with Gemini. I don't use the video so I couldn't care less about that. Just want to play music and have some follow up questions answered without having to say hey Google after every prompt. I will probably just get rid of them at this point. They don't really seem to be serving a use for me and what seems like a lot of other people. 

[devz]

I don't get it. Did they take away the feature and pay wall it now? That's extremely scummy. They really need to start addressing these issues. Over the last 5 years Google has given me more reasons not to use them than to use them. I've already been transitioning away from Gmail. It's a process, but it'll be worth it in the end. After the way they just keep abandoning things we've used for years, Google Play Music (YouTube Music is an absolute downgrade and disgrace in every way), Google Street View, Google Podcasts, just to name a few. I think this is the final straw in the Google coffin for me. 

[Krunked]

Yes. They did.

[SquattingHen]

The took it away. Even paid you don’t get it like it was. It’s ridiculous. 

[uselessusername]

This is incredibly annoying. I used this feature all the time on assistant version of Google home and now I'm constantly having to repeat myself because it was never listening to the second command. 

[Alexandradw23]

I hate it too! Aside from all the things everyone else has said, I would also use continued conversation to thank it. It's how we kept up the habit with the little kids in our family of saying please and thank you.  Now I kind of almost feel ignored after I give it a command, like it's upset with me 😞 

[metroknowm]

It's a robot. Emotional assignment is a misnomer. If anything, be frustrated about the lack of supported features, and bait and switch practices.

[Amr88Tua]

Google will never listen to us anyway, this is falling on deaf ears. I just asked it to say something in Spanish and apparently it now is part of Live translation or something like that, monetized of course. F*** them!

[metroknowm]

Gemini Live live does not support many languages yet at all. I'm sure they will roll this out, but it will be behind a paywall.

[Nick2323]

Google makes 37 Billion in profit per quarter from using our time by making us watch ads on YouTube and websites, and now that is not enough they want to tax us as well with subscription costs and still make us watch ads. I don't need a smart home that bad, I still know how to flip a light switch. 

[metroknowm]

The amount of money Google makes is not the issue. The misleading and disingenuous business practices are.

[Ixpagan]

 Just found this out now. So disappointing. After the new year I’m done with google devices. That front door bell will be replaced!!!

[Gambitus]

I payed the $10 a month because i was under the mistaken impression that the Gemini Live feature was them charging for continued conversations. It is not. Its not even close. Don't waste your money to try to find out. The continued conversations is a must have feature and it needs to be put into Gemini now. I love the fact that my Nest home speakers sound more human when they sy something to me but I just end up hating the experiance because I have to say "Hey Google" all the time or try to say all the things I need Gemini to do all at once. While we are on the subject why can't we just say "Gemini" instead of "Hey Google". 

[devz]

The worst part? Amazon Alexa just added continued conversation. My lone echo dot just started doing it the other day after I got the notification. Guess for now I'll be using Amazon more. Shame. 

[SquattingHen]

Alexa has had this for years. It’s called follow up mode. 

[Jsr112463]

Highly disappointed in Google. And on top of Gemini is a very flawed AI.  I have presented with a math problem to solve, nothing complicated but it did involve 3 steps to complete using basic math. I asked the question 4 times, stating it the exact way each time. It gave me 4 different answers, None of which were correct. 

  I ask about the weather and get am answer and ask again and get something different, and I dont mean like 45vs47 degrees. The other day, I asked for the weather, 48 with a 40% chance of snow. I walk downstairs, 10 secs tops. It tells me 47 with 40% chance of rain.  What happened in that 10 secs? Or was it different because I was closer to the snow on the 2nd floor and it turns to rain on the first.

 Yesterday morning I asked for the weather, 34 and snowing , it says. I open the blinds and not a cloud in the sky and the sun is shining.

  So nit only did they take away something that was working almost flawlessly, they replaced it with something you can't trust with less functionality ( unless you want to upgrade everything in your house.. which of course, is their business model) and makes it impossible to switch back to google assistant.  This really sucks and Im disappointed Google would make such a move and such a loyal customer base.

[BrianDivaCox]

used the command hey Google, let's chat.. to open Gemini Live and report back! 

[metroknowm]

This should not be required for the idea of a continued conversation. This is a terrible design choice, and is not something I want to say every single time I have a question. Basically, this would be the idea of changing our hotword to "hey google let's chat" ... The continued conversation implementation that existed previously is a very organic and logical implementation and should be implemented in Gemini as well, exactly the same way. 

[BrianDivaCox]

But it wasn't live...  follow-up questions for about 8 to 10 seconds 

all you do is say "hey google lets chat about _____________"

[dmgthib]

Tried it and it's not supported on my Google devices that, oddly enough, supported continued conversation before "upgrading". 

[Jsr112463]

That does not work, 1 of the first things I tried. But, thank you for the suggestion.

[Jsr112463]

I have tried everyway listed to switch back to Google assistant. None worked. I gave up and then tried to get gemini to work properly,  including purchasing the premium setvice and still do not have conversation mode.

  At this point, it feels like an absolute rip off especially considering I had Google Assistant, which had far more capabilities with my 6 devices than Gemini. And Google seems to careless about my issue or the money I have spent investing in their products that are now worthless.

[metroknowm]

This is the heart of the issue, JSR. I may look into a class action lawsuit over the holiday.

[Jsr112463]

Keep us informed. I will join.