Google Home has a new tool to save you from the next heatwave

Right now, Google Home users in plenty of nations around the world are feeling the heat — literally. Summer’s nearly here in the Northern Hemisphere, and temperatures are already spiking all over the place. If you rely on a central air conditioning system to make this time of year remotely tolerable, you should be happy to hear about some of the latest updates for Google Home, including a tool that can give you an early warning about A/C problems.

Google Home version 4.20 is rolling out starting today, and in its release notes, Google shares quite a few upgrades and fixes that are landing with it. First up, we’ve got this new alert, what Google calls a “compressor heads-up.” This applies to both heat pumps and air conditioners, and tries to detect when your system is either broken or misconfigured, ultimately not managing the temperature like you’d expect it to. Ideally, that gives you enough notice to call for service before a massive heat wave hits. This is supported on all modern Nest Learning Thermostats, but not the first two generations.

When something does go wrong, Google Home’s making it easier to get in touch with support by simply tapping on your installer’s phone number or email in an alert.

We just told you about some of the new Gemini camera AI changes coming to Home, and we’re also getting a few camera upgrades in the app. On Android, look for faster loading events, while iOS gets to enjoy a smoother timeline interface.

Making clever use of configurable smart switches is a great way to add flexibility to your smart home, and in this release Home has some upgrades for how it handles Matter switches. Multi-button switches can now be accessed through a single tile, and you can change action settings right from the tiles themselves.

Finally, we’ve got a whole bunch of bug fixes, performance tweaks, and reliability improvements. Here’s the complete list Google shares:

• Tap to return home: Tap on ‘Home’ ‘Activity’ or ‘Automations’ button to scroll to the top of the page
• Reliable Android TV connections: We’ve fixed issues in setup flows for certain Chromecast devices. This ensures you have a more stable and dependable experience when controlling your television from your phone.
• Improved location features: We’ve resolved an issue where certain devices were incorrectly set up for location-based features. This ensures your home transitions between home and away modes more accurately.
• More reliable camera controls: We’ve improved the reliability of camera light toggles and interface controls. This ensures you can always control your camera’s features with confidence.
• Faster home widgets: We’ve improved the responsiveness of the Google Home widget on your phone’s home screen. This ensures your smart plugs, lights, and switches react instantly to your first tap.
• Faster light color changes: We’ve prioritized light group color controls directly in the action bar for Android users. This gives you immediate access to adjust your room’s lighting instantly, making it easier to set the perfect mood.
• Smoother automation tab navigation: We’ve resolved a scrolling issue with messages in the Automation tab. This provides a more seamless experience when managing your home routines without unexpected visual interruptions.
• Improved readability for suggestions: We’ve updated our suggestion cards to dynamically scale based on your preferred font size settings. This prevents text from being cut off, ensuring you can easily read personalized recommendations at a glance.
• Improved stability: We’ve improved stability to reduce crash rates and improve loading times, especially for users in Public Preview.

Look for your Google Home version 4.20 update to start seeing the impact of these changes for yourself.