Google TV’s new Home Panel is limited, can only turn most devices on or off

Ben Schoon | Sep 29 2024 - 7:30 am PT

The Google Home Panel coming to Google TV devices is an excited and overdue addition to the platform, but we’ve noticed that it’s rather limited in functionality.

Launching first on Google TV Streamer and expanding to more devices soon, the Home Panel on Google TV is similar to what’s available on Pixel devices through the lockscreen. A panel shows your favorite devices as set in the Home app with the ability to adjust them and view their status, even showing live feeds from Nest cameras. On Pixels and other Android devices where it’s available, the Home Panel is very capable as an extension of the Home app.

But on Google TV, functionality is limited.

As mentioned, the layout of the Home Panel on Google TV is similar to what you see on the Home app’s “Favorites” tab. It even updates when you add devices to or reorganize that tab. But it can’t do all of the same things. If you have lights, you can turn them on or off and adjust the brightness, but you can change the color. You also have to dive into the “Lighting” section if you want to make individual adjustments.

The Nest Thermostat similar can only adjust the temperature up or down, you can’t dive in to turn on the fan or anything like that.

For just about anything else, you’re limited to on or off, nothing more. One of the things I was rather excited to do with the Home Panel on Google TV was to start lighting sync with the Philips Hue Sync Box, but my hoped were dashed when I realized I can’t access any of the additional options found in the Home app (which is the best place to control this device).

That limitation of not being able to access the deeper pages beyond on/off means that a ton of smart home devices are either useless or very limited through the Home Panel. You also can’t get around this with automation buttons, as those won’t show up on the TV even if they’re in the Home app’s “Favorites” tab.

Why are these limits in place?

Realistically, things could quickly get out of hand from a usability perspective if Google tried to support all devices and all features here, and there’s no logical cutoff either. So the limits in place do make sense to me, even if they are a little bit frustrating.

It’s also important to remember that the Home Panel on TV is in “Preview” right now, just like the Wear OS app has been for a while. Over time, Google has drastically improved the functionality of the app on wearables, and it seems reasonable to expect similar improvements to come to the TV over time.