Google Rolls Out Gemini AI to Revolutionize Smart Home Experience
Google launches Gemini AI integration for smart home devices with app redesign and new products to enhance user experience and reliability.
- • Google Gemini AI integrates into smart home devices starting October 2025.
- • Gemini for Home offers more natural, conversational interactions than Google Assistant.
- • Early access to Gemini available via updated Google Home app for Nest device users.
- • Google Home app redesign includes new Gemini-centric features and automation tools.
- • New Nest devices with Gemini support launched, older Nest Thermostat support discontinued.
Key details
Google is initiating the integration of its advanced Gemini AI into its smart home ecosystem starting this month, marking a significant upgrade over the existing Google Assistant. This rollout introduces Gemini for Home, a version tailored to offer more conversational and natural interactions for users, who can now engage in fluid dialogues with devices by simply saying, ‘Hey Google, let's chat,’ without repeating activation phrases. Early access to Gemini for Home is available through the Google Home app for users with Google Nest devices, requiring an app update to version 4.0 or newer.
Gemini aims to address reliability issues that have plagued Google's smart home devices over the past decade. Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer at Google Home and Nest, acknowledged past performance glitches and emphasized the need to rebuild user trust through enhanced stability and transparent frequent updates. Gemini for Home will support a broad range of devices released in the last ten years, although some older models will not be compatible due to the extensive code rewrites involved in the upgrade.
Parallel to the AI enhancements, the Google Home app itself will undergo a major redesign. The upcoming version 3.41.50.3 will feature Gemini prominently and introduce new UI elements such as an 'Ask Home' search bar that allows users to automate home settings and manage devices with AI assistance. The updated app will also showcase a revamped favorites page, new icons, and important privacy disclosures. Alongside software improvements, Google is preparing to launch new smart products including a Nest speaker with built-in Gemini, a new Nest doorbell, and several Nest cameras by spring 2026. Notably, Google is discontinuing support for first- and second-generation Nest Thermostats to focus on more modern devices.
These steps reflect Google's strategic shift toward a more intelligent and seamless smart home environment powered by Gemini AI, fostering a more stable, responsive, and user-friendly ecosystem. As Kattukaran noted, this transition is aimed at delivering a future-proof platform that restores confidence in Google’s smart home technologies.