Google Assistant adds support for smart heaters, air fresheners, and fireplaces

Ben Schoon | Feb 28 2019 - 7:41 am PT

Google Assistant makes it really easy to interact with smart home devices, but Google is still working to bring that functionality to everything on the market. Recently, Google Assistant quietly added support for heaters, air fresheners, and even connected fireplaces.

As noted by the folks over at Android Police, Google now officially supports Assistant integration for connected heaters, air fresheners, and fireplaces. Admittedly, these probably aren’t the first products you think of when it comes to a smart home, but they are out there. For example, this 500W electric heater claims to support Google Home. “iFlame” also offers smart control over your home’s fireplace, and QuikThings makes a smart air freshener that works with Alexa.

These new categories all work in slightly different ways too. Air Fresheners, for example, can be toggled on and off and users can also ask Assistant to adjust modes and toggles on these devices. Fireplaces work in a similar way.

Air fresheners can be turned on and off and adjust various modes and toggles.

Fireplaces can be turned on and off, and may have adjustable modes and toggles.

Heaters, on the other hand, can be treated a bit differently. Google says that they are “similar to thermostats,” but cooling may not be supported and temperature targets might not work either. Thus, Google will let its partners adjust how these devices are treated by voice commands.

Heaters are similar to thermostats but do not support cooling and may not support setting temperature targets. Heaters may rely on modes, toggles, and fan speed settings.