Google Home is an absolutely fantastic product, but like its competition, the Amazon Echo, I’ve always felt that it is most useful as a hub for home automation. Unfortunately, unlike its competitor, Google Home is not compatible with most smart home products. However, today the list expands with official support from Wemo.
Wemo’s products include smart outlets, light switches, light bulbs, and much more. Aside from the catalog of products compatible with Samsung SmartThings, the addition of Wemo products into Google Home’s collection of compatible products is the largest and most diverse to date, as well as being one of the more affordable and simple options.
Just like currently compatible products, Wemo products will be listed in the Google Home app and able to be assigned to rooms as users decide. Currently, Wemo products can be integrated indirectly via IFTTT, but that requires using an extra command to interact with each product. With official integration, those products can be used with commands such as “OK Google, turn on the living room.”
With Wemo and Google Home, it’s easy to control almost any electronic device with an on/off switch, as well as built-in light fixtures like overhead lights, chandeliers and porch lights. Google Home also allows users to group Wemo devices together to control entire rooms or scenarios with a single statement. For example, saying “Ok Google, turn on the living room,” can power on table lamps, overhead lights, and a window AC unit at the same time.
Wemo products will integrate with Home (and thus, Google Assistant) using Google Weave which is also in use on Philips Hue and SmartThings, and soon also on LIFX, Wink, and TP-Link products.
Wemo integration will require firmware version 10885, rolling out now to the official Wemo apps for Android and iOS. However, app updates will still be required to actually integrate the products. Wemo tells us that this will be available likely be the end of this month. Wemo’s products are available now from various retailers, including Amazon.
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