Here Are All the New AI-Powered Smart Home Features Google Just Announced.
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On Wednesday, Google officially announced a number of smart home initiatives . Along with new devices , including Nest cameras, doorbells, and a new Google Home speaker, the company released an updated Google Home app . As expected, Google’s new smart home strategy, based on Gemini AI, will be launched in 2025 and will receive a new branding: Gemini for Home .
The company talks a lot about how its next-generation technologies will improve your smart home . We’ll have to wait for experts to test Gemini and the new Google Home app, not to mention all the new Google devices, but for now, we can take a look at the future Google offers us:
Gemini for the home
Google Assistant is far from new, but even Google seems to believe there’s room for improvement. The company claims the interface was “functional, not intuitive or natural,” which apparently reflects on Google’s latest smart home assistant: Gemini for Home.
As expected, Gemini replaces Google Assistant in all Google smart home products. The company claims the new interface is much more natural than before, as previously, you had to give concise and precise commands to get the assistant to understand you. In the future, Google says, you’ll be able to use the AI’s contextual awareness for simpler queries.
For example, if you’re asking for help with a dishwasher repair, you don’t have to start every request with a description of the problem. You could start with a question like, “Hey Google, my dishwasher is having trouble draining. Where do I start?” If you’re asked to check the filter, don’t say, “Hey Google, I’m trying to drain the dishwasher, but the filter seems fine. What’s next?” Instead, you could simply write, “Hey Google, the filter seems fine. What’s next?” Google claims that Gemini will recognize the context and continue to help.
If you want to bypass the constant “Hey Google” prompt, you can say, “Hey Google, let’s chat.” This activates Gemini Live, an AI-powered voice mode that lets you communicate with Gemini.
The company claims you can do the same by asking questions about songs and movies. If you want to find a song from a movie but can’t remember its name, you can share vague details about the film, and Gemini will supposedly help you piece those pieces together.
Perhaps most importantly for the smartest home, Google says Gemini can handle more complex requests. For example, you can ask it to turn off the lights in all rooms except a specific one, or trust the AI to understand the context of the room you’re asking about—for example, “Could you turn on the oven light?”—which would mean turning on the kitchen light. However, my favorite of Google’s promised features is the ability to ask Gemini to add ingredients from recipes to your shopping lists, rather than individual items. You can simply ask for a shopping list for pad thai, and Google says Gemini will add all the necessary ingredients.
Gemini with smart cameras
Google says Gemini for Home can also update smart cameras connected to Google Home. The company maintains that most smart camera alerts are “low-context” and inform the user that motion or a person has been detected, but it’s up to you to figure out what’s actually going on.
Google says that with Gemini for Home, artificial intelligence makes using the smart camera more contextual. Alerts will contain “full details about what’s happening,” so you can tell from the notification itself whether a USPS package has arrived or just a shadow in front of the camera. Gemini will also organize and summarize all video recordings for the day—you can view all the videos you’ve recorded or simply browse the summary for any changes the AI deems important. Google also says you can ask Gemini questions about your video recordings.
By the way, you can ask Gemini to find the video clips you need using natural language. Google suggests asking questions like, “When did the kids get home?” or “Did I leave the car door open today?”
New Google Home app
All of these updates are brought together by the updated Google Home app, which reportedly includes over 100 new features and performance improvements. Google states that three goals were pursued in developing this update: “To make it faster, more reliable, and more complete.”
According to the company, the app should perform quite well on the first point. Google claims its new Home app runs more than 70% faster on some Android devices than before, with crashes reduced by nearly 80%, while the smart camera’s live view is said to load 30% faster, with playback crashes reduced by 40%.
The new design includes three main tabs: the “Home” tab, which displays all controls for your smart home devices. This tab includes swipe menus for items like “Favorites” and “Devices.” Next is the “Activity” tab, which displays your home’s activity history. You can see when a program was launched, when a camera detected motion, and when a light was turned off. Finally, there’s the “Automation” tab: here you can see which automations are currently running, access your entire collection of automations, and create new ones.
Google has also integrated the “best features” of the Nest app into the new Home app. While the dedicated Nest app is still available, Google is clearly counting on long-term support for Nest features. This includes support for Nest thermostats dating back to 2015, as well as Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alerts, and Nest x Yale Lock passcode management. Google claims that managing previous Nest devices in the new app has also become easier, with improved frame rates and faster loading times.
Finally, there’s “Ask Home,” a new Gemini-powered feature that makes it easier to find any element of your smart home. For example, Google suggests searching for “lighting” or “living room” to find devices and automation systems that match those searches. You can view footage from smart cameras, combine multiple smart home commands, or create automations using natural language.
Google says all of these changes will roll out globally today, Wednesday, October 1st.