Google Assistant is getting a set of expanded capabilities for smart home devices, the Mountain View company announced today. These are fairly small adjustments, but they should help make it more seamless to use the Assistant with different devices around the home. These features are rolling out this week, though not everyone will get them right away.
For one thing, Voice Match, the feature that lets the Assistant recognize a user"s voice and respond using information specific to that user, is now being expanded to more smart speakers and smart displays. This should make it possible for multiple users in the home to have personalized interactions with the Assistant. Up to six different users can be linked to each device, so if you have a speaker that didn"t support this before, you may want to try again.
Additionally, it will be possible to adjust a device"s sensitivity to the "Hey Google" or "Ok Google" hotwords. This capability was actually announced back in April, but the rollout is apparently not done and it will be coming to more devices over the next few weeks. This setting will show up in the Google Home app.
Finally, it will be possible to set a default speaker for playing music. In the Google Home app, you can go to the settings for each of your smart devices, and set a default speaker for music-related requests on each device. For example, you can ask the speaker in one room and have it play music in another, without specifically having to say so each time.