Google is doing a major overhaul of its smart home ecosystem. It has launched the new Nest Cam and Nest Doorbell, announced a new Google Home Speaker, and pulled the plug on the Nest Aware subscription plans.
A redesigned Google Home app rolling out globally is also part of the package, featuring a simplified three-tab layout on its homepage with Home, Activity, and Automations tabs. Google said in a blog post that making the app faster and more reliable was its top priority. The updated Google Home app now runs over 70% faster on certain Android devices and features improved battery life and reduced memory usage.
Google has made updates under the hood to improve the app"s reliability, bringing down the number of bugs and app crashes by nearly 80% compared to a few months ago. Those who use it to manage their cameras might notice that live views in the app now load 30% faster with a 40% decrease in playback failures.
All of this has happened after people grilled Google about the degraded experience offered by the Google Home app. Its product manager, Anish Kattukaran, publicly apologized in a social media post on X, stating that "major improvements" will be announced during the fall season.
However, overall, it has been a significant year for Google Home, featuring over 100 new features and performance improvements. The app was updated with new Camera features, hot water support, video forwarding, and other features.
The redesigned Google Home app complements Gemini for Home, a new AI-powered assistant Google has launched for its smart home devices. It powers features like advanced camera alerts on Nest Cam devices, Gemini Live, and quick summaries via Home Brief.
Ask Home is a new AI feature central to the app, persistently accessible through the new header navigation across the app. You can use it to type or give voice commands to search for smart home features, create complex automations, find specific moments in your video history, or control multiple devices simultaneously.
The company also highlighted that the features and capabilities of the Nest app are being baked into the Google Home app with every new update. Speaking of which, the Google Home app now offers full support for Nest Protect devices, Nest x Yale locks, and Nest Thermostats (2015 or later).