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Google Home may soon work even when you don't have Internet
- Google is working on making Google Home more useful offline, the company recently shared.
- Better integration for third-party devices is also in the works.
- There is no roadmap for the updates yet.
Google Nest Hub users may soon have something to celebrate: controlling smart appliances via Google Home may be getting faster and easier, according to the company in a recent online Q&A.
Google’s Home & Nest team recently took to a Reddit AMA to address some user gripes and share what the team is working on.
The most salient of the discussions was that the company was developing offline support for device control and adding more third-party device integration for devices like cameras and sensors.
What Google’s working on
One of the longstanding complaints from Google Home users was that running commands as simple as turning on a light switch was often laggy or required an internet connection. This is because commands were routed through Google servers instead of having them go directly to devices via their respective home networks.
To address this, the company said that it is working on introducing offline support via Matter, the open-source connectivity standard for connected devices. Their initial focus will be getting more interactions done locally and building on that with more “powerful opportunities.”
When pressed about why it seemed like Google was prioritizing its own Nest products on Google Home while competitors like Wyze, Eufy, and NeoCam were lacking in integrated features, the team cited security and quality control as reasons for delays as third-party device support requires close collaboration from partnering companies.
Though no specific roadmaps were shared, if you want to be one of the early testers of the upcoming updates, Google says it’ll first be made available through their Public Preview program.