Google has announced a number of updates to the Gemini for Home experience that include various fixes and improvements to voice controls for your smart home, addressing quite a few widespread and niche complaints.
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For the third update in a row, Google Home is improving automations. Google has a trio of new features and changes with the February 17, 2026 release notes.
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The Google Home experience brings a lot to the table, but it’s also infamously overlooked some features that have taken years to address. As more updates continue to improve on what Google Home can do, what do you want to see next?
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IKEA’s smart home tech gets a lot of the basics – including price – right, but Matter connectivity issues are a downer on the whole experience, including some problems with the newfound button compatibility in Google Home that isn’t working right for some.
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Walmart has seemingly lowered the price for good on its Onn Indoor Camera with Google Home support, dropping to just $20.
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Version 4.8 of the Google Home app widely rolled out today with a “foundational fix” for the “Video not available” error with Nest Cams.
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Google Home is finally addressing one of its biggest shortcomings in automations, with support now rolling out for smart buttons that can control other devices in your home.
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Back in 2021, Nest Hub picked up an update that made it easy to access select functions via touch with a selection of “apps,” but they’ve vanished over the past year or so.
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If you’ve opened the Google Home app in the past few weeks, you’ve probably been greeted with an “offline” status for your lights. Google is finally acknowledging the problem, with a fix coming eventually.
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The Google Home app is expanding what you can do with automations, with a new update adding support for more automation triggers and actions including robot vacuums.
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IKEA took to CES for the first time ever this year in an effort to show off its new smart home tech, which continues to get better and better, but there’s one big asterisk for Google Home users based on early user impressions.
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Uncovered LED strips have become a thing of the past as more natural and vibrant lighting options come out, like Govee’s Floor Lamp 3 and ceiling lights that mimic sunlight and provide a canvas for art.
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The latest Gemini for Home updates are focused on camera improvements for Nest and other compatible devices.
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Google only kicked off its Gemini for Home rollout a few weeks ago, but it’s full steam ahead for the company’s efforts to replace Assistant. After speeding up invites in the US last week, we’re now seeing our first international expansion of the program.
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The Google Home app is adding support for transferring all of your old Nest gear to the new app with a single tap, instead of repeating the process over and over again.
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Over the last few weeks of staggered rollouts, some users have gained access to Gemini for Home, which adds Google’s AI assistant to existing Nest devices. The upgrade seems to be breaking some automations, though.
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Material 3 Expressive switched back to a shorter bottom bar, but not all apps — like Google Home — adopted that at launch. That has now changed.
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Smart home cameras are everywhere now, and while there are some great ideas like the ones found in the dual-tracking Baseus X1 Pro, I continue to just wish everything worked better within the Google Home app.
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In addition to their ADT partnership (and investment), Google is working with AT&T on its new Connected Life security system.
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After kicking off the rollout a few weeks ago, Google says the Gemini for Home replacement of Assistant on smart speakers is now available within a day of opting in, at least for those in the US who can access it.
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IKEA has announced over 20 new Matter-connected smart home products coming to market soon.
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In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, Google’s big Gemini for Home voice assistant update doesn’t just work on Nest devices, but several third-party Google Assistant speakers too!
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Just over a month after launching an early access program, Gemini for Google Home is coming to a new wave of users in the latest rollout.
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Google has removed its longstanding “Call Home” feature from the Google Home app in recent updates, breaking support for starting calls directly to devices such as the Nest Hub Max.
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