Google Home and Gemini for Home Just Got Massive Updates – 20+ Changes, Improvements
by Kellen · Droid LifeAs we near the retail arrival of the new Google Home Speaker later this week, Google just pushed out a huge update to Google Home and the Gemini for Home experience. The number of improvements, as well as bug fixes, might make this one of their biggest updates to date.
For Gemini for Home, Google has is much better at avoiding accidental hotword triggers, reliably ends Continued Conversation, has improved filtering of background speech, and is even faster at dealing with alarms, timers, and lists.
On a media front for Gemini for Home, Google is also improving the speed of Spotify and YouTube, has better accuracy for playing or shuffling music or playlists, and should be good at answering questions about music playing.
As a big of a bonus, Google announced that Gemini for Home now works with the whole family, including kids.
For the Google Home app (v4.20), camera playback responsiveness on Android is faster, there’s a new System Health alert if you have a Nest thermostat, and you’ll find improved support for Matter Switches.
Finally, for Google Home-related bug fixes, Google has touched on at least 8 areas for improvement. From faster widgets and light color changes to a smoother automation tab and Android TV reliability fixes, there is a lot to read through below.
The full changelog is below and I recommend reading through it.
Gemini for Home (Early Access)
Voice Assistant
Conversational & Latency Performance Upgrades
• Fewer accidental activations: Improved filtering of accidental hotword triggers, reducing false starts for live conversations.
• Quickly end conversations: Gemini now reliably ends Continued Conversation and goes quiet when you say “No thanks” or “Stop” to follow-up questions.
• Better background speech filtering: With Continued Conversation turned on, Gemini does a better job of ignoring background speech so it doesn’t respond when it’s not being spoken to.
• Speed improvements for alarms, timers and lists: Optimized speed and accuracy when managing alarms, timers, or lists.
Try saying:
• “Start a 6 minute egg timer”
• “Set an alarm for tomorrow morning at 6”
• “Add ingredients for healthy chia breakfast pudding to my grocery list”
Media & Entertainment Upgrades
• Start listening faster: Media playback on Spotify and Youtube is now faster. Simple requests like “play music” or playing your liked playlists also start playback much faster.
• Play & shuffle accuracy: Improved voice reliability and verbal confirmations when playing and shuffling music or video playlists. “Play and shuffle my liked songs”
• Media search improvements: Ask questions about movies, artists, and music and get directed to more accurate answers. While music is playing, ask “Who sang this song?”
Gemini for the whole family, including kids
Gemini for Home voice assistant is now available for everyone in the family, including kids, in all supported countries and languages. Whether they’re asking how to spell a word or looking for a laugh with a new joke, Gemini is ready to help them learn and play. Learn more on how to guide your child’s Gemini for Home experience.
Camera AI
Familiar Face Detection Improvements
We know identifying family members correctly matters. To improve detection, we are automatically updating your Familiar Face library to save the most recent and accurate examples, while also updating face recognition for Advanced plan users to use additional signals like clothing when a subject’s face is not visible. By focusing on the best examples and using these new signals, we reduce missed or incorrect identifications and make managing your library easy. Learn more about Familiar Face detection here.
Audio in Event Descriptions
We are adding improved sound detection to the AI descriptions for your cameras. They can now identify specific sounds – like dogs barking, alarms, or footsteps – and include them directly in its video descriptions for person, car, or motion events that contain sound. Simply check the descriptions on your camera’s video events in the Home app. With even better analysis of both the audio and video from your clips, your descriptions should provide better insight into what is happening in the clip, even if it’s off-camera. This allows you to also use Ask Home to search through your video history for things like ‘Did the dog bark during the delivery?’ Learn more about detected sounds here. Requires theAdvanced plan of Google Home Premium.
Google Home App
These features and improvements are available in Google Home App version 4.20, and are beginning to roll out today.
Camera
• Camera Playback Responsiveness (Android): We have optimized camera event loading on Android. This update reduces loading spinner times and accelerates video playback start times for all users.
• Camera Timeline Improvements (iOS) : Scrolling through your camera history is now faster and smoother! Timeline events now load continuously as you scroll (no need to pause), meaning you can fly through many hours or days of history to find the exact moment you’re looking for without the wait.
Energy
• New System Health alert: Your Google Nest thermostat can now detect potential issues with your heat pump or air conditioning compressor and will alert you on the device, in the app, or via notifications so you can troubleshoot or contact a pro before your home gets uncomfortable. Supported on all models except Nest Learning Thermostat 1st & 2nd gen. Learn more about this alert here.
• One-tap Nest Pro support: You can now tap directly on phone numbers and emails within your HVAC system health alerts to get in touch with your certified installer, instantly.
Device Support
• Improved support for Matter Switches: You can now configure actions for buttons on your switches directly in the device tile for the switch. Additionally, multi-button switches are now combined into a single, unified device tile for a cleaner view. Tapping this main tile opens up the controls for all individual buttons in one centralized place. Find your updated switch tile in its assigned room, or scroll down to the “In your home” section on the Devices tab.
Bug, Reliability and Performance Fixes
We’re always working behind the scenes to make your home run more smoothly. This week’s updates focus on several issues to improve your daily experience.
• Tap to return home: Tap on ‘Home’ ‘Activity’ or ‘Automations’ button to scroll to the top of the page
• Reliable Android TV connections: We’ve fixed issues in setup flows for certain Chromecast devices. This ensures you have a more stable and dependable experience when controlling your television from your phone.
• Improved location features: We’ve resolved an issue where certain devices were incorrectly set up for location-based features. This ensures your home transitions between home and away modes more accurately.
• More reliable camera controls: We’ve improved the reliability of camera light toggles and interface controls. This ensures you can always control your camera’s features with confidence.
• Faster home widgets: We’ve improved the responsiveness of the Google Home widget on your phone’s home screen. This ensures your smart plugs, lights, and switches react instantly to your first tap.
• Faster light color changes: We’ve prioritized light group color controls directly in the action bar for Android users. This gives you immediate access to adjust your room’s lighting instantly, making it easier to set the perfect mood.
• Smoother automation tab navigation: We’ve resolved a scrolling issue with messages in the Automation tab. This provides a more seamless experience when managing your home routines without unexpected visual interruptions.
• Improved readability for suggestions: We’ve updated our suggestion cards to dynamically scale based on your preferred font size settings. This prevents text from being cut off, ensuring you can easily read personalized recommendations at a glance.
• Improved stability: We’ve improved stability to reduce crash rates and improve loading times, especially for users in Public Preview.