Google has been making rapid improvements to Google Home, rolling out major changes almost every other week. However, most of these changes have been limited to users enrolled in the Early Access program. As part of its spring 2026 update, Google is now rolling out another set of improvements to Google Home, and this time, they are available to all users.
The main highlight of this update is a revamped and more modern camera interface. It’s also faster and more responsive, providing smoother video scrubbing and more details. Plus, you now get alerts that will automatically zoom in on the subject.
If you are subscribed to Google Home Premium Advanced, the timeline view in the camera feed will contain event descriptions. This will make it easier to identify important moments in the video. There’s also the option to filter events based on Person seen, Package seen, Activity Zone, and more.
Users with older Nest cameras and a Google Home Premium Advanced subscription are getting Gemini-powered event descriptions.
Face detection gets an upgrade as well, with Google saying familiar faces should now be recognized more accurately. If the results are inaccurate, you can press the thumbs-up/down buttons to share feedback with Google quickly.
As part of the upgrade, face library management will no longer show blurry or low-quality faces.
Google Home automations get more powerful
Automation is getting a big upgrade, too. You can now create more powerful and complex automations in Google Home with new starters, conditions, and actions. This includes options like arming and disarming security systems, door lock monitoring, appliance state, lighting control, and more.
The full list, as shared by Google, is as follows:
Security & Access Control
- Arm and disarm: Arm security systems, check if the security system is armed
- Door lock monitoring: Checking specific states like locked, unlocked, jammed, forced open, or ajar.
- Binary sensors: Detecting simple true/false states such as contact/no contact, leak/no leak, or freeze/no freeze.
- Appliance state (Start & Stop): Controlling operational states (Start, Stop, Pause, Resume) for devices like washers, dryers, and coffee machines.
- Robot vacuums: Specific commands to dock, pause, or resume vacuum cleaning sessions.
Lighting & Environment Control
- Lighting control: Adjusting brightness levels, toggling On/Off, and managing light effects.
- Colored lights: Change the color of a device (light bulb, LED strip, etc.), change the color temperature of a device
- Window coverings: Opening and closing blinds or checking their specific position percentage.
- Climate: Monitoring relative humidity levels via thermostats.
- Playback control: Monitoring states like playing, paused, or buffering.
- Volume: Checking and managing volume levels on media devices.
- Power management: Monitoring battery levels and charging status.
- Switch events: Utilizing smart switch inputs, including initial presses, long presses, and release events
To clarify, several of these automations were already available to users in the Google Home Early Access program. Google is now making them available to all.
For Google Home users in the Early Access program, Google says they will now have access to the Gemini 3.1 model for better performance and advanced reasoning.
Several more changes are rolling out to Google Home. You can read all about them in Google’s announcement.
