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.

[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.

[DADCORE]

I’m so disappointed to find out that I can’t use continued conversation the way i have for years and years. It’s now so clunky to say Hey Google every time. And I’m not paying for a subscription for a feature I already had. Insane. 

[SquattingHen]

Paying for it doesn’t bring it back either. I am a premium member and it doesnt work anymore. 

[Denzil]

I upgraded for just this feature per their marketing materials; however, like you, I cannot find a place to turn it on.

[Bradybunch]

From my understanding, once you upgrade you don't have to turn anything on. You just say the Wake words. Let's chat. "Hey Google, let's chat!" And then it will continue the conversation. But you have to speak within 8 to 10 seconds or you have to use the Wake words again. It worked for me momentarily and I use the old Google home mini free version. I don't know if I tricked it or it tricked itself but now it is not doing it again.

[Alan1973]

Exactly-absolutely ridiculous, I have a premium subscription but still can't ask simple follow ups on regular questions, ie what's the weather like today?  How about tomorrow?  Nope, two separate questions.  Not ok Google!

[Bradybunch]

I was not aware of that. I thought the $10 a month give me the the capability of continued chat. I actually just had continued chat going on my Google home mini. I have the older version. I've had it for years and somehow Google was chatting with me as long as I spoke within 5 to 8 seconds before it shut off. But now it won't do it again but it did for a moment cuz I had a continued conversation so I don't know what's up. It keeps telling me you can't have a continued conversation and I correct it and said we just did and I asked several follow-up questions and even counted down 5 seconds. Been spoke to it 6 seconds then spoke it to it 7 seconds then spoke to it by 8 seconds. It shut off. Believe it was. So the test worked but now it will not continue the conversation and tells me you cannot do it on this device. BS.

[BGO1982]

Ah, darn.  Was hoping I was just missing something in the configs, but it seems they've really screwed the pooch on this update... as seems to be the usual these days.
Bait and switch is right.

[R_Ov]

Chiming in - I feel the exact same way and noticed the missing feature immediately. 

[clawhamm3r]

Found this thread because I just switched to Gemini and discovered this feature was missing. /Sigh 

[Iholguin]

Yes I absolutely agree that removing a feature that was once a really functional part of the whole app experience is now part of the paid tier seems ridiculous. I understand on one side offering a tiered level of services that maybe we would have to pay for to receive more options. But removing already available services and features and making them paid. That's not the way to do it.

[dmgthib]

Not only do you have to pay for a subscription, you also have to upgrade to the newest Google devices. This was an absolute mistake on Google's part!

[StevenG]

I just came off of a support chat with Google and was told a couple important  things:

(1) Continuous conversation is not available with Gemini.  The closest thing to it requires both having a Gemini subscription and, once you have that, to begin every voice command with "Hey Google, let's chat."    You basically have to put your smart device into AI mode even to just set a timer or turn off a light if you want to be able to follow up with anything.

(2)  Once you transition your smart speakers/displays to Gemini, you cannot revert back to Google Assistant unless you create a new home structure and reassign all of your devices to that newly created home.  You will also need to recreate all of your rooms and speaker groups.  There are plenty of instructions available online that suggests that all you need to do is change your settings in Google Assistant.  Those instructions don't work.

[SquattingHen]

Hopefully the agent just didn’t have all the information, or the information will change. If this is how the devices will function from here on out, the average consumer is going to hate it. Guaranteed they will just use Alexa. Alexa is cheaper and has a better interaction now for sure. 

[metroknowm]

Here's the interesting thing about the "let's chat" "premium feature" of Gemini ... It doesn't even accept smart home commands.

This is without a doubt one of the worst productization decisions in the history of modern technology companies. I suggest we create an online petition to request a few specific things. At the very least of which should be a continuous conversation mode as per previous support, whether or not they want to lock it behind a paywall is up to them, but they absolutely need to support this functionality by default. The let's chat feature is not the same thing whatsoever. It doesn't support the same use cases.

[metroknowm]

If all I need to do is set up a new home, I may do this. I figured it was attached to my Google account in perpetuity. Setting up a new home will only take an hour or so.

However, this doesn't address several key issues that have been identified in these threads, and eventually Google will require the user to upgrade to Gemini for home, so we need to address these issues via petition initially, and secondarily via class action suit if necessary.

[TedTheDev]

The lack of the ability to roll back to the non-Gemini versions also makes me regret trying this out. There was not a clear warning this was a one way transition on my Google Hubs, and now previously working commands just don't. This was a functionality update, not a security or bug fix so rolling back should ALWAYS be an option. I shouldn't need to change how I turn on/off lights and timers in my kitchen or other common tasks. Huge regrets at this point on trying this out, and even buying the devices...

[metroknowm]

And this is a major sticking point. Nowhere in the sign up process for Gemini for Google home did Google issue a warning that it could not be rolled back. They have set a precedent with regard to rollback of Gemini functionality historically. They should have gone absolutely out of their way to provide several warning messages and confirmations for the user when choosing the upgrade.

[BrianDivaCox]

You're all forgetting! This is still beta. You opted into a early preview  🤷🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

[Bear81]

I hope you're right, but early access is different than the public preview that was requesting user input: Public Preview for Google Home app - Google Nest Help https://share.google/2ihPtzQXL4G12FTW3. Since there are three different tiers (one free), I think this is the full version.

[SquattingHen]

You know what….you have a point there. 

[Bradybunch]

Or not!

[SquattingHen]

Actually that might be over with Google saying this is rolling out to all devices now. 

[Bradybunch]

So why are you suggesting we are going to have our chat capabilities back for free? I don't believe that. They're waiting to see how many people pay for it first I bet. But regardless it said that the paid version must be purchased for continued conversation. And you say wait for it to change maybe?

[jawaulk]

Used this feature every day. Without it gemini is definitely a downgrade for me from assistant, taking away the number one feature that I used.

Welcome to the en**bleep**tification of google.

[jawaulk]

Oh and when asking gemini why it does not listen it says google does that to protect our privacy. Oh ok they don't care about our privacy when using assistant only gemini???  Makes me feel like the real reason is that the compute costs are so much higher on the gemini AI compared to the google assistant that they don't want to pay for the extra cost of it continuing to listen for a couple seconds.

[metroknowm]

If they are going to site costs, they need to absolutely unlock the exact same use cases in the let's chat functionality that have existed in continuous conversation mode for nearly a decade. This is not the case currently.

[Equior]

I used continued conversation all the time, I even used it to say thank you, and remind myself to say please and thank you when asking Google to do anything for me. Now I can't even do that. I don't always remember to combine all of my requests into a single prompt. It makes interacting with my home 10 times more difficult for me now, and does not give the opportunity to practice polite conversation anymore. If I want the same free features I used to have, I now have to pay for it. This is a complete violation of trust. Definitely not happy about this change. I don't care about in depth conversation, I just want to give a series of commands, and be able to say thank you again.

[Bear81]

I love how so many people used to tell our devices "thank you." I still say it, then remember it is no longer going to respond.

[devz]

Actually, that's probably a good thing. We need to stop being so polite considering we're going to have to start eating tech billionaires soon. 

[metroknowm]

To be clear, paying for it doesn't unlock continued conversation. "Let's Chat" functionality is quite different, and your use cases may be quite different, too. For example, it doesn't support Google home commands whatsoever. It's a major problem.

[CherylT]

The loss of free continued conversation is my biggest regret for upgrading. I waited for several weeks before taking the plunge, and I only did it because I thought it might fix two issues that started happening on Google Home. First, the option to replay a song stopped working on my speaker, with it still works in my Nest Hub. Second, asking Google Home to repeat what it said suddenly resulted in "I can't remember what I said." DUMB! I thought Gemini Home you fix that, but it didn't, and now it's dumber than it was before without the continued conversation. They need to fix this ASAP!

[Bradybunch]

You are so correct. You said it like a champ. I am so very upset about this one step forward and two steps back. I'm getting tired of saying the Wake words over and over when most times I speak to my Google home mini assistant. I follow up with continued questions. This is ridiculous and as you said I believe I've been defrauded. I had what I paid for and they took it away after the fact. Thank you for articulating it so well. I'm not that good with words.

[TheShortman]

It's annoying. I've been using both Google Home and Alexa devices for a few years. Watching both evolve, and seeing the relative weaknesses. This inconvenience won't stop my use of the Google Home devices I have because they are still very useful. But I'm not upgrading these as I am with my Alexa devices. For my uses, Alexa is better at everything, even answering questions.

[mikefort]

I couldn't be more disappointed! The Continued Conversation feature was one of the reasons I went with Google a long time ago. Amazon Alexa didn't offer it back then. I have a Google Nest Hub, Google Home, Google Nest Audio, and more Mini's than I'm willing to admit. The ole' bait and switch, I guess. Even if we do pay for what was once standard, the prompt becomes, "Hey Google, let's chat" if you want continued conversation. That sucks.

Also, Google, let us have the option of "Gemini" as a prompt, or even "hey Gemini". Anybody else on board with this..? Quite the ego there, Google. I don't hear anybody saying "hey Amazon"...

In my opinion, anybody entering into the market for one of these devices who does an ounce of research will absolutely be going with Amazon Alexa. 

[Bradybunch]

But continued conversation was the most important feature for me too. I had it for free and they took it away with an upgrade. I feel like I've been defrauded. They take one step forward and two steps back. I am upset with Google indeed

[Rob863]

I totally hate google right now. As it was, I was sick and tired of having to say hey google to wake it. They are so enamored with their name, or insecure, that they feel the need for people to say it out loud in their homes. Amazon at least gives its system a human name. And now we have to say it every time we have a follow up question?! or else pay a monthly fee for it when it was free for us before? Long time loyal users like myself are getting screwed. Alexa also has this "follow up" feature that you can enable for free. I think it is time to switch out all my home assistants. F.U. google 

[RomingGnome]

If Google doesn't fix the "continued conversation" feature, where you don't have to say,  "Hey Google, let's chat" then I'm going to switch to the Home Assistant version and just go with that one instead, and get rid of Google Home completely.

[Royalh]

I wonder if this can be added to the latest class action lawsuit against google for their home devices...
"www.androidcentral.com/accessories/smart-home/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-google-over-home-an..."