Google's smart home ecosystem faces significant user dissatisfaction, characterized by unreliability and degraded performance of devices like Home speakers and hubs. Many users report mishearing voice commands, delayed responses, and failing multi-room setups. Contributing factors include aging hardware, compounded by Google ceasing support for older Nest devices. Additionally, the increasing reliance on AI in smart home interactions may hinder performance. A Google representative acknowledged user concerns, expressing a commitment to improve reliability and plans for addressing these issues in the future.
"We had a good run with Google Home, but it's been on its way out for almost two years," one user wrote. "I only try to do the very basics with mine now, and I'm happy to have lighting, outlets, and inaccurate weather."
Aging hardware could be to blame for some user complaints. In April, Google officially dropped update support for its first- and second-generation Nest thermostats to focus on newer models.
Another theory points to Google's increasing reliance on AI in the smart home experience - particularly how large language models like Gemini are less adept at understanding context.
We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right -- and making sure we have a long term solution that provides better reliability and capability. We have been actively working on major improvements for sometime and will have more to share in the fall.
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