(Credit: John R. Delaney)
Google Home with Gemini onboard is getting new features, including various tweaks to address annoyances and a brand-new feature to help spot packages and movement live on your home's cameras.
As announced by Google Home chief product officer Anish Kattukaran on X, the new updates are rolling out now across the latest version of the app and should start appearing for users who have opted into early access to Gemini for Home.
The big new feature is called Live Search, a Gemini-powered option that uses AI to monitor camera feeds in real time and lets you ask questions, such as whether there’s a car in your driveway or a package being delivered.
Live Search is only available to Google Home Premium Advanced subscribers, who pay $20 a month or $200 a year for other features such as AI-generated notifications, descriptions of video clips, and 60 days of camera history.
The other hardware feature is Yale smart lock integration, which has now graduated to general availability in the app, allowing you to use its security devices through Home. There’s also an update to the Nest Wifi Pro, which Google says enhances mesh performance and stability.
Other new features are mostly tweaks as part of the brand’s efforts to improve its smart home platform. That includes improved isolation and fixed targeting, which should both make it easier to reference and control specific devices or rooms in your home.
Google also says it has improved context for each device, even if the terminology you’re using isn’t in the device name, making it easier to talk about specific devices. Kattukaran also confirmed that Home will now use your home address from the app for location features.
Kattukaran also notes better reliability across the entire platform, fewer premature cut-offs where Gemini may speak over you, and more reliable answers when you ask a smart speaker a question.