Google Home adds search bar for devices on your Wi-Fi network

Abner Li | Nov 18 2023 - 4:45 am PT

The Google Home app is adding a small but handy search feature to quickly find what Wi-Fi devices are on your network.

Opening the Wifi page and selecting the Devices page reveals a new “Search for devices” bar, which is quite thick. As you start typing, the list of what’s connected to your Google or Nest Wifi router will update. Results include both devices currently on your network and those “Offline.”

Given the live nature of this list, items have a tendency of updating too frequently if “Real time” sort is set. Search is now one way around that.

Wi-Fi device search rolled out with Google Home 3.9 on Android. We’re not seeing this qualify-of-life improvement on iOS yet. Meanwhile, people would certainly appreciate a similar lookup capability for the Devices tab, especially those with dozens of smart home gadgets. Favorites helped prioritize things, but it’s easy for things to get unwieldy. It would also be handy for the Automations list.