Google Home brings back sounds for Gemini, and I’m both elated and irritated [Video]

Classic Google Assistant sounds for special timers are back, but the “confirm” sound for smart home commands is unexpectedly different.

If you woke up to your Google Home or Nest speakers making different sounds today, you’re not alone. Last night, my wife and I noticed that the usual bedtime command we run on our Google Home speaker made a wildly different sound, and this morning brought even more surprises as I set my usual morning tea timers.

I’m not a fan of the new smart home command sounds, as I think they sound too much like error sounds versus the previous “ding” noise that was a very clear success command. I tossed together a quick compilation of a few sounds, including a pizza timer, and both the on/off commands that Gemini gives when issuing smart home commands.:

And it looks like several folks on Reddit have also received the new sounds. From what I can tell, many of the classic Google Assistant timer sounds are back, potentially including:

• Chicken / Turkey: Gobble or clucking noise with a melody.
• Bacon / Sausage / Meat: Sizzling meat sounds.
• Pizza / Pasta: Italian tarantella melody.
• Muffins: The “Muffin Man” jingle.
• Rice: An Asian-themed jingle.
• Cats: Meows and purrs.
• Dog: Barks and howls.
• Christmas: Jingles and holiday music.
• Dinner: Dinner bells.
• Washing machine: Popping bubble sounds.
• Pie / Cookie / Cake: Surprised crowd voices (“Ooh” and “Ahh”).
• Coffee / Tea: A cafe jingle.
• TV: A ritzy Hollywood-style song.

These have been completely absent for me since Gemini replaced Google Assistant on smart speakers earlier this year. They also seem to only be enabled on some generations of speakers. My original 2017 Google Home speaker issues all generic sounds, while the new 2026 Google Home Speaker has a more complete list from above. I reached out to Google to find out if any additional sounds have been added and will update this article if I hear back.

More smart home news:

• Hunter is killing Google Home, Alexa controls for its smart ceiling fans
• Google’s original Nest Doorbell is broken for many right now
• Google’s latest smart home products make the perfect gifts, and they’re on sale at Best Buy

Today’s best smart home deals:

• Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite – 22% off ($69.99)
• Govee Floorlamp 3 – 24% off ($129.99)
• Govee Glide Wall Lights – 36% off ($44.99)

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