Hey Google Nest Community!
We're excited to unveil some helpful new features designed to make your Google Home experience even more personalized and accessible, no matter where you are or what device you're using.
This June update gives you more control, enhanced device support, and a smarter home experience. Get ready for more customizable Favorites, enhanced automations, expanded device integrations, and exciting new ways to interact with your home across your phone, TV, and more. Let's jump right in!
Your Favorites, now even better
We know how important it is to have quick access to the devices and controls you use most, which is what the Favorites tab was built for. We’re continuing to make changes to help better suit your needs:
- Add More to Favorites: We've expanded the types of controls you can add to your Favorites. Now you can pin additional tiles like the indoor temperatures dashboard, Wi-Fi actions, and whole home lights on-off for instant access.
Automations made easier (and more customizable)
We're always working to make it easier to set up automations that work with more devices and more interfaces. We’ve made it so you can create automations in fewer steps directly in the Google Home app, with new starters & conditions that let you get even more specific. Plus, now you can use presence sensing to start any automation based on whether someone's home or everyone's away. This feature is available in Public Preview on Android (US only).
Learn how to manage home automations in Google Home.
Smoother, faster camera experiences
Reviewing your camera footage should be quick and seamless. We've focused on performance and usability to ensure you can find the moments that matter without frustration.
We know that easily finding what matters in your video history is super important. That's why we're excited to announce that spotting those crucial moments just got easier. You can easily jump forward or backward 10 seconds in your timeline by double tapping on the left or right side of the player, and improvements under the hood mean scrolling your video history feels significantly smoother.
Learn more about navigating your video history in the Google Home app.
Support for more devices
A truly helpful home is one where all your devices work together. We're excited to broaden the range of devices that integrate with Google Home.
We’re introducing a new smoke and carbon monoxide experience into the Google Home app, starting with support for the Nest Protect smoke and CO alarm. You’ll be able to receive critical safety alerts and heads-up notifications, run essential safety check-ups, and hush alarms, all from the app.
We’re also excited to expand support for smart locks. Your Nest x Yale lock is already supported in the Home app with features like lock and unlock, and now, we’re expanding support for third-party Matter locks, allowing you to manage household access, edit passcodes, create guest profiles, receive lock notifications, and more, all through the Google Home app. This feature is available in Public Preview.
More ways to choose how you control your home
We believe you should be able to manage your home seamlessly, whether you're on your phone, tablet, watch, or even watching TV. This update brings more powerful ways to control and view your home across multiple surfaces:
- Surface-Specific Favorites: Now you can customize your Google Home Favorites depending on what device. Create one set of go-to Favorites on your watch and a different set for the devices you check the most from your tablet without affecting the Favorites tab in the Home app. (Coming soon)
- Picture-in-picture Nest Cams on your TV (Public Preview only): Keep an eye on your camera while you’re watching TV, with picture-in-picture from your Google TV home panel. See who’s at your door, or check in on the backyard without pausing what you’re watching or switching screens. Get early access with Public Preview on your Google TV Streamer.
- More Google Home for web controls: Now more of the devices you control on your Google Home app are available on Google Home for web. Adjust your lights, set the temperature, unlock the door, and more – right from your browser. Coming soon to Public Preview.
- Home Summary Widget (Google Home Labs only): Get a bite-sized, glanceable summary of your home with the new Home Summary widget. This widget proactively summarizes your home devices, events, and insights – relevant & timely every time you check in – and provides quick access to relevant controls. (Invite only)
We’re incredibly excited about these new features and can't wait to see how you use them to create a more helpful and enjoyable Google Home.
With these new updates, personalizing your smart home and controlling it from anywhere is super easy. Share your experiences, tips, and tricks in the Nest Community Forums. Stay tuned for more awesome updates in the future.
