Subj : Google Home app gets a big AI upgrade with Gemini smarts but you To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Wed Oct 01 2025 14:15:08 Google Home app gets a big AI upgrade with Gemini smarts but you'll need to pay up for the best features Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2025 13:00:00 +0000 Description: There are more AI features to come soon, too FULL STORY ======================================================================Google Home's app overhaul has just dropped Everyone will see a streamlined design Only Premium subscribers will be able to access AI features for now Following an accidental teaser courtesy of some lucky iPhone users who got the update early, Google has unveiled its brand-new Home app, complete with some entirely new Gemini abilities for subscribers. Using the impressive chatbot, your smart home should hopefully feel a bit smarter, but youll also find there are a few non-Gemini improvements that Google promises will make your experience faster and more reliable. Starting with those tweaks, Google admits that its not ideal for its app to have all these impressive AI features if it isnt an easy experience accessing them thats why it says that its rebuilt app can now run up to 70% faster on some devices, and that app crashes occur 80% less often than they did a few months ago. You should also find that using the Google Home app is less battery-intensive to boot. (Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future) These tweaks dont just stop at your phone; according to Google, you should be able to access your smart cameras more smoothly, with live views loading up to 40% faster, and a 40% decrease in playback failures. You should now find that camera tile previews load instantly as well. It adds that we still have work to do, but these less flashy upgrades are what the Google Home app has really needed for some time, and should make it a more useful tool in exchange. (Image credit: Google) Germini finally lands on Google Home Okay, what about Gemini? As we saw from the leak, the Google Home app layout has been overhauled to cut down the number of tabs and to add a new 'Ask Home' bar at the top of each page. That is, if youre a Google Home Premium subscription owner. This header functions as a typical search bar start typing out a device type or room name (like lights or living room) and youll see the relevant devices, allowing you to control them more easily. (Image credit: Google) You can also use natural language to search for a specific camera clip if theres a specific event you want to review, you can type out a complex command like turn off all the lights and close the blinds in the family room controlling multiple devices at once, or you can describe an automation you want to create and Gemini will help you construct it. Gemini will also offer a better understanding of your camera clips, which folds in nicely with this new search function. Instead of generic alerts like person detected, Google is promising that Gemini will be able to better identify whats going on in a clip. For example, if the motion was activated by a bird hopping into view, it might say Robin walking with flowers. This should help you better identify activations that are worth your time, and others that arent at all urgent. (Image credit: Google) Google also promises that it wants your smart home to feel less like a black box. In the future, youll be able to ask and get answers to questions like How long was my TV on last weekend? or Did the AC run a lot last week? Youll need relevant Google Home hardware integrations to answer these questions, but if youre all-in on the Google ecosystem, it looks like youll be getting some handy upgrades now and down the line. How to unlock new Gemini AI features in your devices These arent the only Gemini upgrades on the way. Gemini is also coming to compatible smart devices, offering tools like Home Brief and Gemini Live. To access these tools, youll need to go into your app, click on your profile icon in the top right corner, then on Home Settings. Scroll down here until you see the Early access option to join the initial Google Home Gemini rollout, and then youll just need to wait for a notification saying youre ready to try the new features. The Standard tier costs $10 per month, or $100 a year (UK and Australian pricing to be confirmed) and nets you standard versions of the new Gemini fetaures plus 30 days of video history. Meanwhile the Advanced tier at $20 a month, or $200 a year, offers improvements like 60 days of video history, more in-depth notifications and event descriptions, and daily summaries. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too. You might also like Exclusive: Those phones are being treated just like any other camera Inside Apples first Friday Night Baseball broadcast shot on iPhone 17 Pro The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is the most exciting Kindle in ages, and I have the sketches to prove it Amazons new Echo Studio looks way better and from my first listen, it still brings the oomph ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/home/smart-home/google-home-app-gets-a-big-ai-upgrad e-with-gemini-smarts-but-youll-need-to-pay-up-for-the-best-features --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .