Google has rolled out enhancements to its Google Home app, improving camera navigation and controls with Gemini AI integration. The update also brings Gemini 3.1 to the voice assistant for early access users, enabling better handling of complex commands. New automation options expand smart home capabilities.
Google announced updates to the Google Home app on May 5, focusing on a revamped camera experience. The user interface now offers faster navigation and smoother video scrubbing, with animated thumbnail previews centered on subjects. Users can filter events by factors like 'Person seen,' 'Package seen,' or 'Glass break heard.' The player window stays visible during scrolling, and new controls allow skipping 10-second chunks in recordings or swiping to switch views and resize the player. Paying subscribers with a Google Home Premium plan gain access to event descriptions in the timeline view, extending to older Nest cameras when Gemini features are enabled in settings. Familiar face detection improves with thumbs up/down feedback and automatic filtering of low-quality images like blurry faces. Many features are powered by Gemini AI, though the camera analysis model remains unchanged from prior versions, with streamlined event labels for simpler, more accurate notifications. Separately, Google updated Gemini for Home to version 3.1 for early access participants. The voice assistant now better manages multi-step commands, such as combining list additions and updates in one prompt. It identifies similar list names to avoid duplicates, handles recurring all-day events for alarms and calendars, and fixes AM/PM mix-ups when setting alarms. The AI-powered Ask Home feature will soon expand to the Home web interface as a preview, allowing conversational checks of camera history and automation creation. New automation triggers and actions include arming security systems, door lock monitoring for states like jammed or ajar, binary sensors for leaks or freezes, appliance controls, robot vacuum commands, lighting adjustments, window coverings, humidity monitoring, media playback states, volume management, battery levels, and smart switch events. Paying users can leverage Ask Home for these automations, while all can use traditional interfaces.
