The Google Home app is working on a few new features including a “Vacation” mode that we don’t know much about, but has some intriguing possibilities.
Following its complete revamp back in 2022, the Google Home app has rolled out small tweaks over time to improve its functionality. Soon, though, it may add two particularly useful features.
One of those is “Vacation” mode, which would reside alongside “Home” and “Away” modes in the app. This was spotted by the folks over at Android Authority, but is not yet live in any capacity. As such, we don’t know what Google plans to do here, but we can make an educated guess.
Some smart home ecosystems and devices today have a vacation mode which can be used to simulate someone being in the home, such as by randomly turning lights on and off through the day. With the clear date icon in the Home app, it seems Google is probably planning something similar. But, as of now, there’s simply not enough evidence to know what the intended use case is, as well as what devices it might work with.
Beyond that, it was also found that the Google Home app is working on a new pairing option for Matter devices which would allow users to pair a Matter device to Google Home that has already been set up elsewhere. As it stands today, Matter devices must be set up in the Home app initially to work there, but this would allow for control from multiple apps by the looks of it. But, again, this isn’t fully functional yet, nor has it rolled out in any official capacity.
It’s unclear when these features might roll out to everyone, but it’s always good to see Google working on improving its smart home app.
More on Google Home:
- Google Home notifications for Nest are broken on Pixel 9 for some, here’s a quick fix
- The Google Home app is preparing a search bar and Material You theme support
- Google Home’s takeover of the Nest app is nearly complete
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