Google Assistant helps people get things done every day—and for people using Android phones, mobile apps are often the best way to help with tasks. So today, we’re extending the convenience of simple Assistant voice commands to work with your favorite Android apps.
Opening and searching within Android apps using “Hey Google” is now available to all Assistant-enabled Android phones. This makes everyday tasks within an app much easier thanks to voice. For example, you can now say, “Hey Google, search cozy blankets on Etsy” and get right to what you’re looking for. Or if you’re looking for something (or someone) specific within an app, just say, “Hey Google, open Selena Gomez on Snapchat.”
But people do a lot more with their apps beyond simply opening and searching within apps, and we want to enable voice commands to those frequent tasks, too. Now you can do things like playing music, starting a run, posting on social media, ordering food, paying back a friend, hailing a ride—the list goes on and on—all with just your voice. Starting today, you can try doing more using your voice with more than 30 of the top apps on Google Play available in english globally, with more apps coming.
Here are a few things you can try today:
And for your most common tasks, you can create custom shortcut phrases. So instead of saying “Hey Google, tighten my shoes with Nike Adapt,” you can create a shortcut to just say, “Hey Google, lace it.” You can explore suggested shortcuts or create your own by simply saying, "Hey Google, show my shortcuts" to get to the settings screen.
Whether you want a hands-free way to use your apps or shortcuts to complete common tasks, we want to make Android and your apps even more useful and convenient—and to give you time back to enjoy what matters most.
Google Assistant helps people get things done every day—and for people using Android phones, mobile apps are often the best way to help with tasks. So today, we’re extending the convenience of simple Assistant voice commands to work with your favorite Android apps.
Opening and searching within Android apps using “Hey Google” is now available to all Assistant-enabled Android phones. This makes everyday tasks within an app much easier thanks to voice. For example, you can now say, “Hey Google, search cozy blankets on Etsy” and get right to what you’re looking for. Or if you’re looking for something (or someone) specific within an app, just say, “Hey Google, open Selena Gomez on Snapchat.”
But people do a lot more with their apps beyond simply opening and searching within apps, and we want to enable voice commands to those frequent tasks, too. Now you can do things like playing music, starting a run, posting on social media, ordering food, paying back a friend, hailing a ride—the list goes on and on—all with just your voice. Starting today, you can try doing more using your voice with more than 30 of the top apps on Google Play available in english globally, with more apps coming.
Here are a few things you can try today:
And for your most common tasks, you can create custom shortcut phrases. So instead of saying “Hey Google, tighten my shoes with Nike Adapt,” you can create a shortcut to just say, “Hey Google, lace it.” You can explore suggested shortcuts or create your own by simply saying, "Hey Google, show my shortcuts" to get to the settings screen.
Whether you want a hands-free way to use your apps or shortcuts to complete common tasks, we want to make Android and your apps even more useful and convenient—and to give you time back to enjoy what matters most.
Google Assistant helps people get things done every day—and for people using Android phones, mobile apps are often the best way to help with tasks. So today, we’re extending the convenience of simple Assistant voice commands to work with your favorite Android apps.
Opening and searching within Android apps using “Hey Google” is now available to all Assistant-enabled Android phones. This makes everyday tasks within an app much easier thanks to voice. For example, you can now say, “Hey Google, search cozy blankets on Etsy” and get right to what you’re looking for. Or if you’re looking for something (or someone) specific within an app, just say, “Hey Google, open Selena Gomez on Snapchat.”
But people do a lot more with their apps beyond simply opening and searching within apps, and we want to enable voice commands to those frequent tasks, too. Now you can do things like playing music, starting a run, posting on social media, ordering food, paying back a friend, hailing a ride—the list goes on and on—all with just your voice. Starting today, you can try doing more using your voice with more than 30 of the top apps on Google Play available in english globally, with more apps coming.
Here are a few things you can try today:
And for your most common tasks, you can create custom shortcut phrases. So instead of saying “Hey Google, tighten my shoes with Nike Adapt,” you can create a shortcut to just say, “Hey Google, lace it.” You can explore suggested shortcuts or create your own by simply saying, "Hey Google, show my shortcuts" to get to the settings screen.
Whether you want a hands-free way to use your apps or shortcuts to complete common tasks, we want to make Android and your apps even more useful and convenient—and to give you time back to enjoy what matters most.
Posted by Baris Gultekin and Payam Shodjai, Directors of Product Management
Top brands turn to Google Assistant every day to help their users get things done on their phones and on Smart Displays -- such as playing games, finding recipes or checking investments, just by using their voice. In fact, over the last year, the number of Actions completed by third-party developers has more than doubled.
We want to support our developer ecosystem as they continue building the best experiences for smart displays and Android phones. That’s why today at Google Assistant Developer Day, we introduced:
New App Actions built in intents -- to enable Android developers easily integrate Google Assistant with their apps,
New discovery features such as suggestions and shortcuts -- to enable users easily discover and engage with Android apps
New developer tools and features, such as testing API, voices and frameworks for game development -- to help build high quality nativel experiences for smart displays
New discovery and monetization improvements -- to help users discover and engage with developers’ experiences on Assistant.
Now, all Android Developers can bring Google Assistant to their apps
Now, every Android app developer can make it easier for their users to find what they're looking for, by fast forwarding them into the app’s key functionality, using just voice. With App Actions, top app developers such as Yahoo Mail, Fandango, and ColorNote, are currently creating these natural and engaging experiences for users by mapping their users' intents to specific functionality within their apps. Instead of having to navigate through each app to get tasks done, users can simply say “Hey Google” and the outcome they want - such as “find Motivation Mix on Spotify” using just their voice.
Here are a few updates we’re introducing today to App Actions.
Quickly open and search within apps with common intents
Every day, people ask Google Assistant to open their favorite apps. Today, we are building on this functionality to open specific pages within apps and also search within apps. Starting today, you can use the GET_THING intent to search within apps and the OPEN_APP_FEATURE intent to open specific pages in apps; offering more ways to easily connect users to your app through Assistant.
Many top brands such as eBay and Kroger are already using these intents. If you have the eBay app on your Android phone, try saying “Hey Google, find baseball cards on eBay” to try the GET_THING intent.
If you have the Kroger app on your Android phone, try saying “Hey Google, open Kroger pay” to try the OPEN_APP_FEATURE intent.
It's easy to implement all these common intents to your Android apps. You can simply declare support for these capabilities in your Actions.xml file to get started. For searching, you can provide a deep link that will allow Assistant to pass a search term into your app. For opening pages, you can provide a deep link with the corresponding name for Assistant to match users' requests.
Vertical specific built-in intents
For a deeper integration, we offer vertical-specific built-in intents (BII) that lets Google take care of all the Natural Language Understanding (NLU) so you don’t have to. We first piloted App Actions in some of the most popular app verticals such as Finance, Ridesharing, Food Ordering, and Fitness. Today, we are announcing that we have now grown our catalog to cover more than 60 intents across 10 verticals, adding new categories like Social, Games, Travel & Local, Productivity, Shopping and Communications
For example, Twitter and Wayfair have already implemented these vertical built in intents. So, if you have the Twitter app on your Android phone, try saying “Hey Google, post a Tweet” to see a Social vertical BII in action.
If you have the Wayfair app on your Android phone, try saying “Hey Google, buy accent chairs on Wayfair” to see a Shopping vertical BII in action.
Check out how you can get started with these built-in intents or explore creating custom intents today.
Custom Intents to highlight unique app experiences
Every app is unique with its own features and capabilities, which may not match the list of available App Actions built-in intents. For cases where there isn't a built-in intent for your app functionality, you can instead create a custom intent.Like BIIs, custom intents follow the actions.xml schema and act as connection points between Assistant and your defined fulfillments.
Snapchat and Walmart use custom intents to extend their app’s functionality to Google Assistant. For example, if you have the Snapchat app on your Android phone, just say, “Hey Google, send a Snap using the cartoon face lens” to try their Custom Intent.
Or, If you have the Walmart app on your Android phone, just say, “Hey Google, reserve a time slot with Walmart” to schedule your next grocery pickup.
With more common, built-in, and custom intents available, every Android developer can now enable their app to fulfill Assistant queries that tailor to exactly what their app offers. Developers can also use known developer tools such as Android Studio, and with just a few days of work, they can easily integrate their Android apps with the Google Assistant.
Suggestions and Shortcuts for improving user discoverability
We are excited about these new improvements to App Actions, but we also understand that it's equally important that people are able to discover your App Actions. We’re designing new touch points to help users easily learn about Android apps that support App Actions. For example, we’ll be recommending relevant Apps Actions even when the user doesn't mention the app name explicitly by showing suggestions. If you say broadly “Hey Google, show me Taylor Swift”, we’ll highlight a suggestion chip that will guide the user to open up the search result in Twitter. Google Assistant will also be suggesting apps proactively, depending on individual app usage patterns.
Android users will also be able to customize their experience, creating their own way to automate their most common tasks with app shortcuts, enabling people to set up quick phrases to enable app functions they frequently use. For example, you can create a MyFitnessPal shortcut to easily track their calories throughout the day and customize the query to say what you want - such as “Hey Google, check my calories.”
By simply saying "Hey Google, shortcuts", they can set up and explore suggested shortcuts in the settings screen. We’ll also make proactive suggestions for shortcuts throughout the Assistant mobile experience, tailored to how you use your phone.
Build high quality conversational Actions for Smart Displays
Back in June, we launched new developer tools such as Actions Builder and Actions SDK, making it easier to design and build conversational Actions on Assistant, like games, for Smart Displays. Many partners have already been building with these, such as Cool Games and Sony. We’re excited to share new updates that not only enable developers to build more, higher quality native Assistant experiences with new game development frameworks and better testing tools, but we’ve also made user discovery of those experiences better than ever.
New developer tools and features
Improved voices
We’ve heard your feedback that you need better voices to match the quality of the experiences you’re delivering on the Assistant. We’ve released two new English voices that take advantage of an improved prosody model to make Assistant sound more natural. Give it a listen.
These voices are now available and you can leverage them in your existing Actions by simply making the change in the Actions Console.
Interactive Canvas expansion
But what can you build with these new voices? Last year, we introduced Interactive Canvas, an API that lets you build custom experiences for the Assistant that can be controlled via both touch and voice using simple technologies like HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
We’re expanding Interactive Canvas to Actions in the education and storytelling verticals; in addition to games. Whether you’re building an action that teaches someone to cook, explains the phases of the moon, helps a family member with grammar, or takes you through an interactive adventure, you’ll have access to the full visual power of Interactive Canvas.
Improved testing to deliver high quality experiences
Actions Testing API is a new programmatic way to test your critical user journeys and ensure there aren’t any broken conversation paths. Using this framework allows you to run end to end tests in an isolated preview environment, run regression tests, and add continuous testing to your arsenal. This API is being released to general availability soon.
New Dialogflow migration tool
For those of you who built experiences using Dialogflow, we want you to enjoy the benefits of the new platform without having to build from scratch. That’s why we’re offering a migration tool inside the Actions Console that automates much of the work to move projects to the improved platform.
New site for game developers
Game developers, we built a new resource hub just for you. Boost your game design expertise with full source code to games, design best practices, interviews with game developers, tools, and everything you need to create voice-enabled games for Smart Displays.
Discovery
With more incredible experiences being built, we know it can be challenging to help users discover them and drive engagement. To make it easier for people to discover and engage with your experiences, we have invested in a slew of new discovery features:
New Built-in intents and the Learning Hub
We’ll soon be opening two new set Built-in intents (BIIs) for public registration: Education and Storytelling. Registering your Actions for these intents allows users to discover them in a simple, natural way through general requests to Google Assistant. These new BIIs cover a range of intents in the Education and Storytelling domains and join Games as principal areas of investment for the developer ecosystem.
People will then be able to say "Hey Google, teach me something new" and they will be presented with a Learning Hub where they can browse different education experiences. For stories, users can simply say "Hey Google, tell me a story". Developers can soon register for both new BIIs to get their experiences listed in these browsable catalog.
Household Authentication token and improving transactions
One of the exciting things about the Smart Display is that it’s an inherently communal device. So if you’re offering an experience that is meant to be enjoyed collaboratively, you need a way to share state between household members and between multiple devices. Let’s say you’re working on a puzzle and your roommate wants to help with a few pieces on the Smart Display. We’re introducing household authentication tokens so all users in a home can now share these types of experiences. This feature will be available soon via the Actions console.
Finally, we're making improvements to the transaction flow on Smart Displays. We want to make it easier for you to add seamless voice-based and display-based monetization capabilities to your experience. We've started by supporting voice-match as an option for payment authorization. And early next year, we'll also launch an on-display CVC entry.
Simplifying account linking and authentication
Once you build personalized and premium experiences, you need to make it as easy as possible to connect with existing accounts. To help streamline this process, we’re opening two betas: Link with Google and App Flip, for improved account linking flows to allow simple, streamlined authentication via apps.
Link with Google enables anyone with an Android or iOS app where they are already logged in to complete the linking flow with just a few clicks, without needing to re-enter credentials.
App Flip helps you build a better mobile account linking experience and decrease drop-off rates. App Flip allows your users to seamlessly link their accounts to Google without having to re-enter their credentials.
Assistant links
In addition to launching new channels of discovery for developer Actions, we also want to provide more control over how you and your users reach your Actions. Action links were a way to deep link to your conversational action that has been used with great success by partners like Sushiro, Caixa, and Giallo Zafferano. Now we are reintroducing this feature as Assistant links, which enable partners such as TD Ameritrade to deliver rich Google Assistant experiences in their websites as well as deep links to their Google Assistant integrations from anywhere on the web.
We are very excited about all these announcements - both across App Actions and native Assistant development. Whether you are exploring new ways to engage your users using voice via App Actions, or looking to build something new to engage users at home via Smart Displays, we hope you will leverage these new tools and features and share your feedback with us.
It was only a few weeks ago that we released Android 11, the latest version of the operating system. Today, we’re highlighting six of the latest Google features for Android—available even on older versions—that make your life a little easier and more enjoyable this fall.
1. Do even more with Google Assistant and your favorite apps
Click on the image above to see the video of Google Assistant working with Android apps
Your Android phone comes with Google Assistant, and now you can ask it to open or search across Android apps. Try saying “Hey Google, send snap with Cartoon Lens” or “Hey Google, log a berry smoothie on MyFitnessPal." We’ve partnered with many of the top apps on Google Play including Walmart, Mint, Spotify, Etsy, and Discord, to do specific tasks unique to those individual apps. Get started by saying, “Hey Google, show my shortcuts.”
2. New ways to connect with Google Duo
Click on the image above to see the video of screen sharing in Google Duo
When your friends and family video call you with Google Duo, you can now share your screen to browse photos or plan activities together while on the call. If they aren’t catching you at a good time, they can leave a video message, which has automatic captions to help if you have hearing loss or are in a spot where you can’t play audio. Download Google Duo on Google Play.
3. Say goodbye to spam calls with Google’s Phone app
With Google’s Phone app, your Android device will stop spam callers for good and it’ll tell you who’s calling and why. We’ve been working to bring the app to more people, and it’s now available to download for the first time on most Android devices running Android 9 or above. Download Phone by Google on Google Play to get spam protection and other helpful features, and easily connect with friends and family no matter what type of devices they use.
4. New tools for hearing loss with Sound Notifications
Click on the image above to see the video of Sound Notifications
Sound Notifications flags important, inconvenient, or alarming noises around you when you have hearing loss or are even wearing headphones. Set up Sound Notifications in the Live Transcribe app, and your phone will flash, vibrate, and provide push notifications when it detects a fire alarm, a door knocking, household appliance beeps, and more. You can also set up your Wear OS smartwatch to vibrate and send a push notification, as well. Download Live Transcribe on Google Play.
5. Communicate with Action Blocks when you don’t use your voice
Caption: Action Blocks makes communication more accessible
Built for people with cognitive disabilities and age-related conditions, Action Blocks can now be used to communicate short phrases. It acts as an artificial voice for people with cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, autism, aphasia, and other speech related disabilities. In addition, Action Blocks now incorporates thousands of Picture Communication Symbols from Tobii Dynavox, making it easier to use the Android app alongside existing speech therapy and special education materials. It also now supports Japanese, French, German, and Italian. Download Action Blocks on Google Play.
6. Enjoy the entertainment you love, with a little help from Google
Click on the image above to see a video of the Google TV app on Android
Your TV isn't the only place for finding and watching entertainment. Starting on Android phones in the U.S., the Google Play Movies & TV app is being updated to Google TV. Google TV helps you discover what to watch with recommendations for movies and shows from across your streaming apps. And with the Google TV app, your recommendations, Library, and Watchlist go with you wherever you are, whether it’s out the front door or just to the other room. Learn more on Google Play.
It was only a few weeks ago that we released Android 11, the latest version of the operating system. Today, we’re highlighting six of the latest Google features for Android—available even on older versions—that make your life a little easier and more enjoyable this fall.
1. Do even more with Google Assistant and your favorite apps
Click on the image above to see the video of Google Assistant working with Android apps
Your Android phone comes with Google Assistant, and now you can ask it to open or search across Android apps. Try saying “Hey Google, send snap with Cartoon Lens” or “Hey Google, log a berry smoothie on MyFitnessPal." We’ve partnered with many of the top apps on Google Play including Walmart, Mint, Spotify, Etsy, and Discord, to do specific tasks unique to those individual apps. Get started by saying, “Hey Google, show my shortcuts.”
2. New ways to connect with Google Duo
Click on the image above to see the video of screen sharing in Google Duo
When your friends and family video call you with Google Duo, you can now share your screen to browse photos or plan activities together while on the call. If they aren’t catching you at a good time, they can leave a video message, which has automatic captions to help if you have hearing loss or are in a spot where you can’t play audio. Download Google Duo on Google Play.
3. Say goodbye to spam calls with Google’s Phone app
With Google’s Phone app, your Android device will stop spam callers for good and it’ll tell you who’s calling and why. We’ve been working to bring the app to more people, and it’s now available to download for the first time on most Android devices running Android 9 or above. Download Phone by Google on Google Play to get spam protection and other helpful features, and easily connect with friends and family no matter what type of devices they use.
4. New tools for hearing loss with Sound Notifications
Click on the image above to see the video of Sound Notifications
Sound Notifications flags important, inconvenient, or alarming noises around you when you have hearing loss or are even wearing headphones. Set up Sound Notifications in the Live Transcribe app, and your phone will flash, vibrate, and provide push notifications when it detects a fire alarm, a door knocking, household appliance beeps, and more. You can also set up your Wear OS smartwatch to vibrate and send a push notification, as well. Download Live Transcribe on Google Play.
5. Communicate with Action Blocks when you don’t use your voice
Caption: Action Blocks makes communication more accessible
Built for people with cognitive disabilities and age-related conditions, Action Blocks can now be used to communicate short phrases. It acts as an artificial voice for people with cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, autism, aphasia, and other speech related disabilities. In addition, Action Blocks now incorporates thousands of Picture Communication Symbols from Tobii Dynavox, making it easier to use the Android app alongside existing speech therapy and special education materials. It also now supports Japanese, French, German, and Italian. Download Action Blocks on Google Play.
6. Enjoy the entertainment you love, with a little help from Google
Click on the image above to see a video of the Google TV app on Android
Your TV isn't the only place for finding and watching entertainment. Starting on Android phones in the U.S., the Google Play Movies & TV app is being updated to Google TV. Google TV helps you discover what to watch with recommendations for movies and shows from across your streaming apps. And with the Google TV app, your recommendations, Library, and Watchlist go with you wherever you are, whether it’s out the front door or just to the other room. Learn more on Google Play.
Becky Tyler is a young adult with cerebral palsy. She cannot speak on her own and has difficulties controlling her muscle movements. But this hasn’t stopped her from doing what she loves. Becky is an avid gamer, she runs her own YouTube channel and loves acting and dancing. She’s also an advocate for equality and inclusion. With the support of assistive technologies for communication from companies like Tobii Dynavox, she’s able to express her creative voice and pursue her dreams.
For International Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Awareness Month, we’re bringing Google Assistant to Tobii Dynavox’s applications and services that will help people like Becky gain even more independence and empower them to do things like control smart devices and appliances around their homes.
Tobii Dynavox Snap Core First software—available on Tobii Dynavox’s dedicated tablets and mobile apps—has a preconfigured set of tiles for users to communicate about everyday things and is accessible through touch, eye gaze and scanning. By integrating Google Assistant with Tobii Dynavox’s technology, Becky can now easily assign a tile to a Google Assistant action, allowing her to control compatible smart home devices and appliances, like lights, thermostats, TVs and more, that have been set up in the Google Home app. Tiles can also be configured to get answers from Google Assistant to questions like “What’s the weather?” or “What’s on the calendar for today?”
We’ve also worked closely with Tobii Dynavox to make this experience easy to set up. First, create a Google account and set up a smart speaker or smart display in the Google Home app on Android or iOS. After providing access to the Snap Core First app, you can then configure tiles by selecting a button in edit mode, tapping on “Add action” and then tapping on “Send Google Assistant command.”
Becky and others looking to use this technology can also benefit from Action Blocks, which rolled out last May. Action Blocks make it easier for people who have a cognitive disability to use Android phones and tablets with the help of Google Assistant by introducing customizable buttons on their home screens that can complete actions like calling a parent, turning on the lights, or watching a favorite show with one tap. Starting today, Tobii Dynavox’s library of tens of thousands of Picture Communication Symbols can now be used to create Action Blocks buttons, so that people who might be accustomed to assistive technology for communication can use a familiar interface on their Android phones and tablets.
Google Assistant has always been designed with accessibility in mind and to help everyone be more independent at home. You can find our series of how-to videos with visual and audible directions created for the accessibility community to get the most out of Google Assistant.
No two homes are alike: The things, people and routines that fill them are totally unique. That’s why the Nest team is so focused on creating flexible, customizable products and tools that can help everyone—and every home—function more smoothly, and more joyfully.
Personally, my recipe for Nest-enabled home happiness starts in the kitchen with my Google Nest Hub Max, which I consider my personal sous chef. There’s a Google Nest Wifi point (which doubles as a smart speaker) in the guest room-turned-makeshift-home-office and an original Google Home in the dining room (turned-second-makeshift-home-office). A Google Nest Hub sits on my nightstand, and a Google Nest Mini lives in the entryway. Then, I have our newest product, two Google Nest Audios, stereo-paired in the living room for premium sound. That might sound like a lot of devices for a two-bedroom apartment, but my husband and I have found that having them throughout our place helps us make the most of all the time we’re spending here, whether it's setting the mood with our favorite music or getting helpful information from Google Assistant.
Today, you can buy Nest Audio online at the Google Store and at other retailers including Target, Best Buy and more. So, to celebrate, I asked around the Nest team to see what my colleagues' at-home setups look like, too.
Indu Ancha, Product Design Engineering Lead
My husband and I have a Nest Hub Max in our kitchen, which opens directly into our living room, so it essentially sits in both. We also use it to look in on the house when we aren’t home...or to catch the dog sneaking onto the couch! Of course we most often rely on it for features like setting cooking timers. And we actually use it as the main control for our TV since we paired it with the latest Chromecast with Google TV. We use the Nest Audio in the office—it’s perfect for WFH jam sessions, and to play music that helps us focus. And then there’s a Nest Mini upstairs in the guest room. We regularly use the broadcast function, too, especially if one of us is upstairs and the other is downstairs. And because we have Nest Wifi points around the house, everything works super reliably.
Jesper Ramsgaard, Audio User Experience Researcher
Because of COVID-19, like many people my wife and I have been staying home more this year...which I think our two cats appreciate. The time at home has definitely led us to make plenty of use of our Nest speaker system: We have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, two Nest Audios in the living room and a Nest Mini in the bedroom. The Nest Hub Max in the kitchen is great for finding recipes and setting cooking timers, but we also use it to watch Netflix or YouTube and to video call our family. And we have our Nest Audios in stereo setup in the living room, which really fills the house with music if we want it to. It’s been encouraging to listen to more music and really enjoy it more on a daily basis.
Gabe Slotnick, Audio Engineering Lead
I live with my wife and dog, and we have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, a Google Home Max in the living room, and a stereo pair of Nest Audios in the bedroom. Oh, and I also have the new Chromecast with Google TV paired with our living room TV and a Chromecast Audio for my old traditional stereo system. I’ve found that mixing smart displays and speakers throughout our home creates an amazing combination of fantastic sound quality and contextual reminders throughout the day. I love the flexibility of how the devices can interact with each other and how I can access different features and services as I move around my house.
Arianna Clem, Beta Programs Manager
I have two Nest Audios set up using the speaker pair in my room, to give me full surround sound while I get into the zone—which is so helpful when I’m working from home. Of course, it’s also great for dance breaks! I use my Nest Mini while I’m getting ready for the day to go over my schedule and start off the morning with some news and good tunes. Once I’m ready, I use stream transfer to move whatever I’m listening to my other Nest Mini in my work space.
Erick Low, Senior Product Marketing Manager
My family of four—my wife, myself and our two daughters—love to listen to music in our house, especially while we’re cooking or throwing mini dance parties in the family room. While sheltering in place, we’ve spent a lot more time at home and music makes everything more fun. Most of the time, we use a speaker group to listen to music on all our devices throughout the house. And since we have several Nest Minis, a Nest Audio, a Nest Hub Max, a Nest Hub and Google Home speakers, we can really jam out when we want to! My daughters really enjoy using Disney Read Along on our Nest Hub Max in the family room, and my wife and I like to listen to background music on our Nest Hub Max in our office while we’re working.
No two homes are alike: The things, people and routines that fill them are totally unique. That’s why the Nest team is so focused on creating flexible, customizable products and tools that can help everyone—and every home—function more smoothly, and more joyfully.
Personally, my recipe for Nest-enabled home happiness starts in the kitchen with my Google Nest Hub Max, which I consider my personal sous chef. There’s a Google Nest Wifi point (which doubles as a smart speaker) in the guest room-turned-makeshift-home-office and an original Google Home in the dining room (turned-second-makeshift-home-office). A Google Nest Hub sits on my nightstand, and a Google Nest Mini lives in the entryway. Then, I have our newest product, two Google Nest Audios, stereo-paired in the living room for premium sound. That might sound like a lot of devices for a two-bedroom apartment, but my husband and I have found that having them throughout our place helps us make the most of all the time we’re spending here, whether it's setting the mood with our favorite music or getting helpful information from Google Assistant.
Today, you can buy Nest Audio online at the Google Store and at other retailers including Target, Best Buy and more. So, to celebrate, I asked around the Nest team to see what my colleagues' at-home setups look like, too.
Indu Ancha, Product Design Engineering Lead
My husband and I have a Nest Hub Max in our kitchen, which opens directly into our living room, so it essentially sits in both. We also use it to look in on the house when we aren’t home...or to catch the dog sneaking onto the couch! Of course we most often rely on it for features like setting cooking timers. And we actually use it as the main control for our TV since we paired it with the latest Chromecast with Google TV. We use the Nest Audio in the office—it’s perfect for WFH jam sessions, and to play music that helps us focus. And then there’s a Nest Mini upstairs in the guest room. We regularly use the broadcast function, too, especially if one of us is upstairs and the other is downstairs. And because we have Nest Wifi points around the house, everything works super reliably.
Jesper Ramsgaard, Audio User Experience Researcher
Because of COVID-19, like many people my wife and I have been staying home more this year...which I think our two cats appreciate. The time at home has definitely led us to make plenty of use of our Nest speaker system: We have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, two Nest Audios in the living room and a Nest Mini in the bedroom. The Nest Hub Max in the kitchen is great for finding recipes and setting cooking timers, but we also use it to watch Netflix or YouTube and to video call our family. And we have our Nest Audios in stereo setup in the living room, which really fills the house with music if we want it to. It’s been encouraging to listen to more music and really enjoy it more on a daily basis.
Gabe Slotnick, Audio Engineering Lead
I live with my wife and dog, and we have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, a Google Home Max in the living room, and a stereo pair of Nest Audios in the bedroom. Oh, and I also have the new Chromecast with Google TV paired with our living room TV and a Chromecast Audio for my old traditional stereo system. I’ve found that mixing smart displays and speakers throughout our home creates an amazing combination of fantastic sound quality and contextual reminders throughout the day. I love the flexibility of how the devices can interact with each other and how I can access different features and services as I move around my house.
Arianna Clem, Beta Programs Manager
I have two Nest Audios set up using the speaker pair in my room, to give me full surround sound while I get into the zone—which is so helpful when I’m working from home. Of course, it’s also great for dance breaks! I use my Nest Mini while I’m getting ready for the day to go over my schedule and start off the morning with some news and good tunes. Once I’m ready, I use stream transfer to move whatever I’m listening to my other Nest Mini in my work space.
Erick Low, Senior Product Marketing Manager
My family of four—my wife, myself and our two daughters—love to listen to music in our house, especially while we’re cooking or throwing mini dance parties in the family room. While sheltering in place, we’ve spent a lot more time at home and music makes everything more fun. Most of the time, we use a speaker group to listen to music on all our devices throughout the house. And since we have several Nest Minis, a Nest Audio, a Nest Hub Max, a Nest Hub and Google Home speakers, we can really jam out when we want to! My daughters really enjoy using Disney Read Along on our Nest Hub Max in the family room, and my wife and I like to listen to background music on our Nest Hub Max in our office while we’re working.
No two homes are alike: The things, people and routines that fill them are totally unique. That’s why the Nest team is so focused on creating flexible, customizable products and tools that can help everyone—and every home—function more smoothly, and more joyfully.
Personally, my recipe for Nest-enabled home happiness starts in the kitchen with my Google Nest Hub Max, which I consider my personal sous chef. There’s a Google Nest Wifi point (which doubles as a smart speaker) in the guest room-turned-makeshift-home-office and an original Google Home in the dining room (turned-second-makeshift-home-office). A Google Nest Hub sits on my nightstand, and a Google Nest Mini lives in the entryway. Then, I have our newest product, two Google Nest Audios, stereo-paired in the living room for premium sound. That might sound like a lot of devices for a two-bedroom apartment, but my husband and I have found that having them throughout our place helps us make the most of all the time we’re spending here, whether it's setting the mood with our favorite music or getting helpful information from Google Assistant.
Today, you can buy Nest Audio online at the Google Store and at other retailers including Target, Best Buy and more. So, to celebrate, I asked around the Nest team to see what my colleagues' at-home setups look like, too.
Indu Ancha, Product Design Engineering Lead
My husband and I have a Nest Hub Max in our kitchen, which opens directly into our living room, so it essentially sits in both. We also use it to look in on the house when we aren’t home...or to catch the dog sneaking onto the couch! Of course we most often rely on it for features like setting cooking timers. And we actually use it as the main control for our TV since we paired it with the latest Chromecast with Google TV. We use the Nest Audio in the office—it’s perfect for WFH jam sessions, and to play music that helps us focus. And then there’s a Nest Mini upstairs in the guest room. We regularly use the broadcast function, too, especially if one of us is upstairs and the other is downstairs. And because we have Nest Wifi points around the house, everything works super reliably.
Jesper Ramsgaard, Audio User Experience Researcher
Because of COVID-19, like many people my wife and I have been staying home more this year...which I think our two cats appreciate. The time at home has definitely led us to make plenty of use of our Nest speaker system: We have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, two Nest Audios in the living room and a Nest Mini in the bedroom. The Nest Hub Max in the kitchen is great for finding recipes and setting cooking timers, but we also use it to watch Netflix or YouTube and to video call our family. And we have our Nest Audios in stereo setup in the living room, which really fills the house with music if we want it to. It’s been encouraging to listen to more music and really enjoy it more on a daily basis.
Gabe Slotnick, Audio Engineering Lead
I live with my wife and dog, and we have a Nest Hub Max in the kitchen, a Google Home Max in the living room, and a stereo pair of Nest Audios in the bedroom. Oh, and I also have the new Chromecast with Google TV paired with our living room TV and a Chromecast Audio for my old traditional stereo system. I’ve found that mixing smart displays and speakers throughout our home creates an amazing combination of fantastic sound quality and contextual reminders throughout the day. I love the flexibility of how the devices can interact with each other and how I can access different features and services as I move around my house.
Arianna Clem, Beta Programs Manager
I have two Nest Audios set up using the speaker pair in my room, to give me full surround sound while I get into the zone—which is so helpful when I’m working from home. Of course, it’s also great for dance breaks! I use my Nest Mini while I’m getting ready for the day to go over my schedule and start off the morning with some news and good tunes. Once I’m ready, I use stream transfer to move whatever I’m listening to my other Nest Mini in my work space.
Erick Low, Senior Product Marketing Manager
My family of four—my wife, myself and our two daughters—love to listen to music in our house, especially while we’re cooking or throwing mini dance parties in the family room. While sheltering in place, we’ve spent a lot more time at home and music makes everything more fun. Most of the time, we use a speaker group to listen to music on all our devices throughout the house. And since we have several Nest Minis, a Nest Audio, a Nest Hub Max, a Nest Hub and Google Home speakers, we can really jam out when we want to! My daughters really enjoy using Disney Read Along on our Nest Hub Max in the family room, and my wife and I like to listen to background music on our Nest Hub Max in our office while we’re working.
