A new Google Home update has arrived with various improvements including better support for the “Find My Phone” voice command on Gemini speakers.
In the Gemini for Home early access branch, Google saysthat users can expect “quality and reliability improvements” for the “Hey Google, find my phone” command that’s been around for years. It’s unclear exactly what’s changing, but this is a very useful voice command, so any upgrades will be welcome.
Improved Find My Phone reliability: Rolled out quality and reliability improvements to this fan-favorite feature when you ask Gemini to help locate your phone.
Other Gemini voice improvements in this latest update include filtering out background noise and voices, further speed/latency improvements, better support for multilingual households, and improved reliability to custom commands within Routines/automations.
In the Google Home app itself, there are quite a few updates to smart home functionality. This includes turning off lights when the brightness slider is dragged down to zero, improving camera and doorbell tiles, reducing Matter switches being incorrectly shown as offline, and improving setup for Nest devices.
Device Controller Enhancements
- Accurate smart light shutoff: We’ve resolved an issue where sliding brightness down to 0% on single lights or group dimmers left bulbs powered on at minimum illumination instead of turning them off completely. Lowering your brightness to 0% now sends a definitive power-off command, preventing wasted energy and unexpected ambient glow.
- Clearer online camera and doorbell tiles: Online cameras and doorbells now show as filled icons and accented tile colors at a glance, helping you instantly distinguish active cameras from idle ones.
- Accurate offline switch status: We’ve resolved an issue where Matter switches failed to show their offline status or respond to taps on the All Devices tab, ensuring tiles properly render greyed out when disconnected.
- Reliable Favorites tile gestures: We’ve resolved issues where long-pressing tiles in the Favorites tab failed to open device controllers or routine editors.
- Smarter window covering detection: We’ve corrected device type resolution so awnings and curtains map accurately instead of defaulting all open-and-close window coverings to blinds.
- Smoother smart device setup: We’ve delivered end-to-end reliability improvements when setting up Nest devices across iOS and Android. This includes under-the-hood fixes for Bluetooth connections and Wi-Fi pairing to eliminate common dropouts and stalls during the initial setup process.
- Faster, standalone setup: When adding a new device to your home, the Google Home app can now securely cache network credentials on your mobile device, and reuse them for your next device.
There’s also a new preview option for Nest Doorbell ringtones.
The app update is rolling out now on Android, v4.31.27.1, while the Gemini updates are happening behind the scenes for those in early access.
More on Google Home:
- Google Home app brings battery-efficient widget, reduces gray device tiles
- Google Home MCP lets Antigravity, Claude, OpenClaw, & more control your smart home
- Google Home update restores support for older Chromecast streamers, Home Mini
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