Google has announced that it’s working on a new Google Home app with support for the Matter connectivity standard. This will let you connect any Matter-supported device to Google Home in a quick and easy manner – what’s nice is that Matter is being supported by different brands, so you don’t need to just use Google smart home devices.
When Google adds Matter support later this year, billions of Android devices, Google Nest smart speakers, smart displays, and routers will be able to control Matter devices.
Aside from Matter support, the new Google Home app will allow you to manage the smart home devices you care most about through a new Favourites tab, which will be the default tab. You can select the connected items you care most about and have quick access to them from there. The tab will also feature Spaces which sorts your connected devices into categories such as lights, camera, thermostats, and network devices. Eventually, you’ll be able to customize these too.
For people with Nest cameras, Google has brought new functionality to the Google Home app so that you can find important events. Using machine learning, the app will label events by type such as people, packages, vehicles, activities, and animals. For advanced users, the Google Home app will eventually get a new script editor that offers over 100 features to make your smart home do more.
The new Google Home app for Wear OS that was shown off earlier this year will be coming to Wear OS 3 devices next week. Google is also rolling out a new camera experience for the web version of Google Home, so you can check your cameras from your computer. Google will release the new app on Android and iOS to people in the Public Preview programme in a few weeks.