- Google released the latest update, “What’s new in Google Home,” on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, summarizing new features and improvements rolled out for Google Home-related services.
- “Interactive Storytime,” which allows families to co-create original stories through interactive conversations, has been newly added for “Gemini for Home (Early access).”
- Improvements have been made to the accuracy and natural language support for alarms and timers.
On Wednesday, August 5, 2026, local time, Google released the latest update, “What’s new in Google Home,” which summarizes new features and improvements rolled out for the smart home service “Google Home” and its related services.
This latest “What’s new in Google Home” update introduces “Interactive Storytime” for “Gemini for Home (Early access),” allowing families to co-create original stories through interactive dialogue, alongside improvements to alarm and timer accuracy and natural language support. Additionally, the “Google Home” app has received several enhancements and bug fixes, including expanded language and regional support for “Automations,” support for more camera brands, and improved smart lock reliability.
Release notes for 2026
Gemini for Home (Early access)
Voice Assistant
Interactive Storytime with Gemini
Storytime just got interactive! You and your family can now co-create custom adventures on the fly, interrupt the narrative to change the plot mid-scene, or remix classic fairy tales together in real-time.
Try saying:
- “Ok Google, read me a story about a secret agent hamster.”
- “Hey Google, tell us a story where my kids, David and Ava, travel to Mars.”
- “Hey Google, make up a story about a pirate who is scared of the ocean.”
- Want to change things up? Just jump in mid-story: “Hey Google, make the main character find a treasure map!”
- “Ok Google, tell me the story of the Three Little Pigs.”
- Remix it! “Hey Google, instead of a Big Bad Wolf make it a T-Rex!”
Smarter Household Timekeeping & Communication
- Smarter and more dependable Alarms and Timers: We’ve made alarms and timers smarter, so it now understands how you prefer to set your time, whether you use a 12-hour or 24-hour clock. We’ve also improved accuracy for when you ask how much time is left and made it more reliable to set timers using simple descriptions like “set a timer for cooking a soft-boiled egg.”
Try saying:
- “Ok Google, set an alarm for 7 o’clock tomorrow morning.”
- “Hey Google, set a timer for 15 minutes for the pasta” followed by “how much time is left?”
Bug Fixes & Resolved Outages
- Distinct Chime for turn off or down Actions: Turning off a device or dimming a light now plays a soft, descending tone different from the normal upward sound, confirming your command with a sound that matches the mood.
- Google Home Speaker light ring: Fixed an issue where Google Home Speaker’s light ring remained on with a pulsing LED even after routines finished executing. This also prevents lingering lights in dark rooms or during relaxation sound loops.
- [Resolved] Spotify outage: There was a brief outage with Spotify on Monday July 27th that was quickly resolved on the same day.
Try saying:
- “Hey Google, dim the bedroom lights to 20%.”
- “Ok Google, turn off the living room lights.”
- “Hey Google, play ocean sounds for sleep.”
Google Home App
Automations
Automations: Expanded Availability
We are excited to share automation support in Android and iOS is now available in more countries and languages. Read more about where automations are supported here.
Expanded locales are:
- Russian (Russia) (ru-RU)
- Thai (Thailand) (th-TH)
- Turkish (Turkey) (tr-TR)
- Vietnamese (Vietnam) (vi-VN)
Languages available in expanded countries are:
- Arabic (ar)
- English (en)
- French (fr)
- Spanish (es)
Camera
- Support for more camera brands: You can now connect a wider range of cameras, including those from Eufy, Tapo, Wyze, Reolink & Nanit, and view all your home security feeds in one place inside the Google Home app.
- New quick ‘Save Clip’ shortcut: New shortcut makes it easier to download event recordings straight from your camera view. Just tap the 3-dot menu next to any recording in your event list to save it instantly by clicking on the download shortcut. (Tip: Want a custom clip length? Use the menu button while playing or scrolling the timeline!).
- AI event descriptions (Home Premium Advanced): Subscribers can now read helpful, auto-generated event summaries right inside the full-screen camera view so you know what happened at a glance.
- Smarter camera view defaults: The main camera view now opens directly to your timeline or event list so you can jump straight to important moments.
- Auto full-screen in landscape: Rotate your phone sideways while watching a live feed or recording in portrait to automatically jump into full-screen view.
- Longer live streaming: Watch your Nest camera live streams for longer without interruptions, thanks to under-the-hood stability improvements.
- Quick stream reconnects (Android): If your Wi-Fi or cellular connection drops, the app instantly notices and gives you a quick retry button to get your live view back up fast.
- Smoother feed scrolling (Android): Enjoy a smoother experience when scrolling through your camera list—video feeds now pause and resume seamlessly as you move down the page.
- Smoother camera history scrolling (iOS): Fixed a camera timeline issue on iOS where manually scrolling back to live video could occasionally get stuck on an empty historical frame
- Accurate battery status indicators (iOS): Resolved an issue where live streaming cameras with unreadable battery levels would erroneously display a dead battery icon.
- Performance improvements for Samsung phones: Fixed issue where camera audio stream used call volume instead of media volume.
Locks
What’s new in Google Home – Google Nest Help
- Enhanced smart lock reliability: Improved error handling for Works with Google Home smart locks and clearer notification alerts during lock and unlock operations.
“Gemini for Home (Early Access)”
“Gemini for Home (Early Access)” has added “Interactive Storytime,” which allows families to co-create stories through interactive dialogue, and improved the accuracy of alarms and timers.
“Interactive Storytime”
“Interactive Storytime” allows families to co-create custom adventure stories on the fly, interrupt the narrative to change the plot mid-scene, or remix classic fairy tales together in real-time.
For example, you can start a story by saying, “Ok Google, tell me a story about a secret agent hamster,” jump in mid-story to change the plot with “Make the main character find a treasure map,” or remix the story of “The Three Little Pigs” by saying, “Instead of a Big Bad Wolf make it a T-Rex.”
Improved Alarm and Timer Accuracy
Alarms can now be set with an understanding of whether you prefer a 12-hour or 24-hour clock. Additionally, accuracy has been improved when asking for remaining time, and you can now set timers more reliably using simple descriptions like “set a timer for cooking a soft-boiled egg.”
Bug Fixes and Resolved Outages
When turning off a device or dimming lights, a soft, descending tone—different from the normal upward sound—will now play to confirm your action.
Additionally, an issue where the light ring on “Google Home Speakers” remained on with a pulsing LED even after routines finished executing has been fixed. The brief Spotify outage that occurred on Monday, July 27, 2026, has also been resolved.
“Google Home” App
Expanded Availability for “Automations”
The “Automations” feature in the Android and iOS versions of the “Google Home” app is expanding its supported countries and languages.
It will now be available in Russia (Russian), Thailand (Thai), Turkey (Turkish), and Vietnam (Vietnamese). Furthermore, Arabic, English, French, and Spanish will also become selectable in these newly added countries.
Camera
Support has been expanded to include more camera brands such as Eufy, Tapo, Wyze, Reolink, and Nanit, allowing you to manage an even wider range of cameras in one place within the “Google Home” app.
A new “Save Clip” shortcut has also been added, letting you save event recordings with a single tap from the 3-dot menu next to any recording in your event list. For “Google Home Premium Advanced” subscribers, a new feature has been added allowing you to read AI-generated event summaries directly within the full-screen camera view.
Additionally, the main camera view now opens directly to your timeline or event list, and rotating your phone to landscape while watching a live feed or recording in portrait will automatically switch it to full-screen view. Under-the-hood stability improvements also allow for longer, uninterrupted live streaming.
On the Android version of the “Google Home” app, a quick retry button now appears to help you reconnect instantly if your Wi-Fi or cellular connection drops, and scrolling through camera lists is now smoother. On the iOS version, a bug where the timeline could occasionally get stuck on an empty historical frame when returning to live video has been fixed, along with an issue where cameras with unreadable battery levels incorrectly displayed a dead battery icon.
On Samsung smartphones, an issue where the camera audio stream used call volume instead of media volume has been fixed.
Smart Locks
Error handling for “Works with Google Home” smart locks has been improved, along with clearer notification alerts during locking and unlocking operations.
“Google Home” App Links
Source: Google