Home LivingSmart HomeThis free Google Home upgrade knows where you are – and that’s goodYou no longer need a Nest thermostat for Google Home to detect your presenceWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Home LivingSmart HomeThis free Google Home upgrade knows where you are – and that’s goodYou no longer need a Nest thermostat for Google Home to detect your presenceWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
You no longer need a Nest thermostat for Google Home to detect your presence
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
One of the smartest features of theGoogleNest Thermostatis its motion detection, which enables your smart home to react to whether or not you’re home – for example so it won’t heat an empty house. But a brand new update to Google’s Nest devices means you can get very similar features without having to have that particular bit of hardware – so if you have or plan to getGoogle Nest speakersor smart displays you’ll have presence detection too.
The Nest devices that know where you are
Detecting your presence because you talk to or touch a device doesn’t sound very radical, but it’s important because it can be used to trigger additional features: clearly if you’re talking to your Google Nest speaker, you’re home and that could then be used to call additional smart home settings such as turning the light on or turning the heating up. It’s not so much the sensing that’s important here but the fact that it can set off a chain of useful actions.
If you’re worried about privacy implications, the feature is strictly opt-in: you can enable the feature or turn it off again in the Google Home app onAndroidoriOS.
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