While the overall UI doesn’t look like it’s changed dramatically, there are some usability tweaks that streamline the app while putting Gemini front and center.
According to screenshots published by AA and detailed in a YouTube video, you can now “Ask Home” to control your devices by typing or saying what you want to happen or to search your video and home history to get detailed descriptions of what has already happened. This is all accessible through a new Ask Home search bar at the top of the app, which, according to AA, opens a new “Ask Home” conversation screen.
Other updates AA spotted included that the Favorites tab has been renamed to Home, and the Devices and Settings tab has gone from the bottom bar, leaving only three icons there. (Devices will now be accessible via a grid icon in the Home tab.)
It looks like you will also be able to add outdoor air quality and temperature as a favorite tile, and there are new icons for video and a thermometer on the Home page. The latter may hint at upcoming Nest hardware, which is slated to launch next month.
I hope this big app refresh will also bring the many features Google has been trialing in its Public Preview program to all users.
