After we first spotted the functionality in development back in September of last year, Google looks to be preparing a rollout of “access” roles for household members in the Google Home app.
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Assistant is one of Google’s most important products as voice cements itself as a key way to interact with technology. The personal assistant spans across all of the company’s form factors and plays an outsized role in smart homes. As the new year gets under way, let’s recap all the major features that Google Assistant and Google Home picked up in 2020.
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Assistant Routines have recently seen a flurry of developments from Android homescreen shortcuts to a new editing UI, and Google is now rolling out sunset/sunrise triggers for some users.
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Back in September, the Home app lost the ability to trigger Assistant Routines. Google Home 2.31 today returns that capability, while there’s a big revamp to media controls.
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The Google Home app in recent months has seen a flurry of new features from a dark theme to full Wifi controls and Home/Away Routines just last week. Google is now testing a very welcome redesign of Nest Hub, Home, and other device settings.
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The latest version of the Google Home app is rolling out with support for the new Nest Thermostat. Available now on iOS and making its way to Android, it suggests the latest smart home device from Made by Google is coming sooner than later.
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Back in July, Google said it was bringing over a key Nest feature to Assistant with “presence sensing.” After detailing late last month, the Home & Away Routines are now rolling out to the Google Home app.
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One of the key aspects of the new Nest Thermostat is full integration with the Google Home app. It reflects how the company’s smart devices are moving towards one app, with that experience fully detailed today.
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Over the past four years, Google has expanded its smart speaker lineup quite a bit. This week, the new Nest Audio is hitting doorsteps, but where does it fall in the lineup? Here’s how Nest Audio compares to Home Max, Nest Mini, Google Home, and everything else.
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In addition to announcing a revamped Wifi router today, Google is rolling out an update to existing units and Nest devices. The most prominent feature is a notification when new devices join your network.
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After teasing earlier this year, Google has fully detailed how Home & Away Routines work. That said, the feature does not appear to be rolled out yet today.
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Recent versions of the Home companion client have added a slew of new features. A server-side update now appears to remove the interface for triggering Assistant Routines from the Google Home app.
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Google Home 2.28 adds support for OnHub routers and lets you better control notifications. It also reveals “Nest Audio” as the possible name of Made by Google’s next speaker and work on Home/Away Assistant Routines.
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The latest update to Home companion app introduced a slew of new features like a dark theme, unified camera page, and more Android 11 integration. Google Home 2.28 continues to improve the Wi-Fi experience by adding support for OnHub routers, while making it easier to video call.
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Last week, the Google Home app received a dark theme, unified camera page, and ability to control all Nest and Chromecast media devices from the Android 11 power menu. Following Nest x Yale control rolling out, the Google Home app now quickly shows whether your lights and other similar devices are on or off, while there’s also a new set-up list.
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Following a tease last month alongside a promotion, Google has updated the Google Home app with support for the Nest x Yale smart lock.
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In addition to a dark theme and bringing along the rest of your Nest media devices to Android 11’s power menu, Google Home 2.27 this morning can show all your Nest camera feeds on a unified page.
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Earlier this month, the Nest Hub Max started appearing in the Android 11 power menu. The latest Google Home app now lets you add every Nest, Home, and Cast device for quick control on Android 11.
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At this point, nearly all of Google’s first-party apps have dark modes. There are some glaring exceptions to this, but fortunately version 2.27 of Google Home today adds a dark theme.
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In addition to introducing advance networking settings for Google/Nest Wifi routers, Google Home 2.26 lets you add the Nest Hub Max to Android 11’s Device Controls housed in the power menu.
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Last week, Google started rolling out the ability to import Google Wifi networks into the Home app. This is part of a bigger update that sees Google Home add the Wifi app’s “advanced networking” settings, which means you no longer have to use two clients.
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With the launch of Nest Wifi, the Google Home app added a number of controls for managing your network. While Google Wifi devices are able to get this Assistant integration, the factory reset required is an inconvenience. Fortunately, the Google Home app is now adding support for importing Wifi networks.
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Google’s Chromecast has been one of the most popular streaming devices ever, but it doesn’t get major updates too often. This week, Google has detailed a handy update coming to Chromecast devices that offers more reliable controls and persistent volume.
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Unlike Smart Displays, Android-powered televisions not in active use will just cycle through generic images and artwork. Some Android TV users are now reporting that the Ambient Mode is picking up support for Google Photos.
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