Google acknowledges and intends to address longstanding difficulties encountered by users with Nest and Assistant devices
Google's Chief Product Officer for Home and Nest, Anish Kattukaran, has publicly addressed customer concerns regarding the reliability issues affecting their smart home devices. The issues, which have been prevalent since January 2025, include voice command failures, mis-activated devices, and specific bugs in smart light voice control commands.
Kattukaran has promised a significant fix for these problems by Fall 2025. The company expects to share more details about the fix in the fall of the year. Google has acknowledged widespread glitches affecting Nest devices, such as the Nest Learning Thermostat and various smart speakers, including the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max.
While some Google Home and Nest speakers have gone without hardware changes for a significant period or have been discontinued, the company is not planning to replace the Nest Hub line with the Pixel Tablet, launched in 2023. The Pixel Tablet, a hybrid between a smart home manager and a casual Android tablet, has not filled the void left by the Nest Hub line.
Rumours suggest that the Fall 2025 update may also include Gemini support for smart speakers and displays. However, Google has not officially confirmed a specific date for Gemini integration in these devices. A post about Home and Nest issues on Reddit garnered nearly 300 comments in three days, while another post on Threads gained traction two days ago.
In the meantime, users must navigate workarounds as bugs persist, especially with controlling smart lights via voice commands. Google has dropped support for the first two Nest Learning Thermostat models this year, and no product category has been hurt more by these deprecations than Home and Nest. Google launched a fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat last year.
Kattukaran has apologised for the inconvenience caused and promised major improvements are being worked on. The issues have been particularly noticeable during the transition from the old Google Assistant to the new Gemini. Google Assistant has lost more than 20 features since 2024. The company is working diligently to address these issues and improve the overall user experience for their smart home devices.
Technology has been at the heart of the reliability issues affecting Google's smart home devices, specifically Google Home and Nest speakers, Nest Learning Thermostat, and various smart speakers like the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max. Despite some hardware changes not occurring for a significant period, Google is working on a significant fix for these problems by Fall 2025, aiming to improve the overall user experience and address the complaints registered by customers.
