- Google has released the latest official “What’s new in Google Home” update, summarizing new features and improvements for its smart home services.
- The update introduces new features and improvements for “Gemini for Home (Early Access)” and updates coming to the “Google Home” app starting with version 4.18.
- “Gemini for Home (Early Access)” sees multiple improvements driven by AI model upgrades.
On Monday, June 8, 2026 (local time), Google released the latest “What’s new in Google Home” update, detailing the latest features and improvements rolled out for its smart home service ecosystem.
This edition of “What’s new in Google Home” covers updates for “Gemini for Home (Early Access)” and new functionality arriving in the Google Home app version 4.18 and later. For “Gemini for Home (Early Access),” a series of improvements have been implemented through AI model upgrades.
Release notes for 2026
Gemini for Home (Early Access)
Voice Assistant
More Accurate and Detailed Weather Forecasts
We have enhanced the weather query accuracy and visual-to-speech consistency on your devices:
- Temperature Unit Accuracy: Improved speech and display weather forecasts based on your preferred temperature unit (Celsius or Fahrenheit).
- Hourly Forecast Context: Ask about specific times of day, like “Will it rain at 3 PM today?” and see detailed hourly weather forecasts rendered on your smart display, matching hourly charts rendered on your screen.
Try saying:
- “What is the temperature in Tokyo in Celsius?”
- “What is the weather at 3 PM today?”
Explore and Discover Media with Gemini
Use natural language to browse, find, and play video, movies, and TV shows on your smart displays, getting you to the right content more quickly:
- Enhanced Video Browsing: Stream your favorite music videos, launch recommended playlists, or trigger video search queries naturally on YouTube.
- TV & Movie Playback: Stream movies and TV shows on smart displays directly from your favorite subscribed services using natural voice commands.
- Conversational Volume Controls: Control your device volume naturally using casual or conversational phrasing (e.g. “lower it a tad”).
Try saying:
- “What’s hot in K-Pop right now?” and follow-up with “play some videos for me.”
- “Find me a video on how to make lasagna” and follow-up with “find me a vegetarian one.”
- “Play the latest episode from Made by Google channel on Youtube” and follow-up with “play the next one.”
- “Turn it up a smidge.”
Platform Performance Upgrades
We have deployed several core infrastructure and model upgrades to make your entire assistant experience noticeably faster and more robust:
- Conversational Accuracy: Gemini is now more resilient at ignoring background speech and understanding news, media and smart Home camera queries.
- Responsive Notes & Lists: Manage your reminders, notes, and lists with less lag, making it quicker to add items or retrieve your notes.
Try saying:
- “Set an alarm for 7 AM tomorrow”
- “Add all ingredients for pad thai except for peanuts to my shopping list”
- “Play Skyfall by Adele”
- “Play BBC news”
- “Show me the entryway camera on the TV.”
- “Who was at the door this morning?”
Customized and Conversational News
We have updated the news experience on Gemini for Home, shifting from static broadcasts to interactive, customized narratives that adapt to your unique interests. You can now engage in natural, back-and-forth conversations to dive deeper into specific headlines, or listen to your preferred providers through a customized ‘News Brief’. You can adjust your selected News Brief providers directly in the Google Home app.
Try saying:
- “Play my news brief” to hear from your selected news providers’ broadcasts
- “Tell me the latest news” or “What’s the news?” to hear interactive summaries
- Ask for news on specific topics “Catch me up on tech news.” or “What’s the local news for today?”
- “Tell me more about the second story” after a news summary to dive deeper into a story
Google Home App
These features and improvements are available in Google Home app version 4.18, and are beginning to roll out today.
Subscriptions
What’s new in Google Home – Google Nest Help
- Streamlined Subscription Comparison: We’ve revamped the plan selection screen with an intuitive billing cycle toggle, empowering you to easily compare options at a glance and pinpoint the absolute best value for your home.
Gemini for Home (Early Access)
“Gemini for Home (Early Access)” introduces updates across four key areas: improved weather forecast accuracy, enhanced media discovery, performance upgrades, and a new interactive news experience called “News Brief.”
Improved Weather Forecast Accuracy
The accuracy of weather queries and the consistency between speech responses and visual information on smart displays have been improved in “Gemini for Home.”
Weather information now adapts to your preferred temperature unit (Celsius/Fahrenheit) for both voice responses and screen displays. When asking time-specific questions like, “Will it rain at 3 PM today?”, the smart display will now show a detailed forecast that corresponds with hourly weather charts.
Enhanced Media Discovery
Users can now use natural language to browse, search, and play videos, movies, and TV shows on their smart displays, allowing for quicker access to desired content.
This update strengthens video search and browsing on YouTube, making it easier to stream favorite music videos or play recommended playlists. Additionally, users can now stream movies and TV shows directly from their preferred subscription services using voice commands.
Furthermore, the system now supports more natural conversational controls, such as “lower the volume a bit.”
Performance Upgrades
Multiple AI model upgrades have been implemented to boost the overall performance and robustness of “Gemini for Home.”
These improvements allow Gemini to better filter out background noise while more accurately understanding queries related to news, media, and smart home cameras. Additionally, latency when managing reminders, notes, and lists has been reduced, making it faster to add items or retrieve information.
Interactive News: “News Brief”
The news functionality in “Gemini for Home” has been revamped. It has shifted from static news delivery to an interactive, personalized narrative format that adapts to the user’s specific interests.
Through natural, back-and-forth conversations with “Gemini for Home,” users can now delve deeper into specific headlines or listen to customized news segments via “News Brief.” The providers for “News Brief” can be configured directly within the Google Home app.
Google Home App v4.18
Starting with version 4.18, the Google Home app features a redesigned subscription plan selection screen, allowing users to easily compare plans and choose the best option for their needs at a glance.
Google Home App Links
Source: Google