Google Home unites all of your compatible smart devices to work together in harmony, in a single app. This means that you no longer need to constantly switch between apps to get things done or tweak minor settings.

Help is always within reach across all of your compatible smart devices from your phone, Wear OS watch, tablet, laptop or desktop, smart display and Google TV, and even just using your voice by saying 'Hey Google' to get help from Google Assistant.

Set up helpful routines to get automatic help from your home.²

Google Home supports the latest smart home device categories and technologies to ensure that your smart home is always ready to help.

Intelligent alerts from Google Nest Aware subscriptions make your smart home even more helpful through premium features that ensure that you are getting the most out of your smart home.

It's easy to get started, and as your needs grow, so does the help from Google Home.

Google Home works with all of your favourite devices made by Google, as well as over 80,000 compatible Works with Google Home devices from your other favourite brands.

Additionally, the new standard for smart home devices, Matter, was designed around the vision of making all Matter-enabled devices compatible with one another.⁶

Because Google Home supports Matter, as more smart home device makers adopt this technology, your smart home will automatically be compatible with them as they become available.

Yes. The Google Home app is compatible with and available for download on both Android and iOS devices alike.

Yes. No matter which family member sets up Google Home, all members of the family will be able to control your smart devices via the app and personalised routines, or even simply by using their voice.

Additionally, if you would like to limit access for certain household members or guests, the Limited access feature in the Google Home app lets you customise how much access to allow for different members of your household or guests, and what level of information Google Home should share.

Smart home automations and smart home routines both involve automating tasks and actions within your smart home system.² So, they are basically the same. But there are some key differences.

Routines are typically initiated by a voice command (e.g. 'Hey Google, good morning') or a manual action (e.g. tapping in the app).

Automations are triggered by events or certain household conditions like specific events occurring within your home. This could be a sensor detecting motion, a door opening or simply the time of day.

Automations are more flexible and customisable because they offer more granular control and customisation options, allowing you to set scenarios for automating that are as simple or as complex as you like (e.g. 'if motion is detected after sunset, turn on the porch light').

Routines in the Google Home app are automations for your home devices that can help you and your household automate tasks throughout the day.

Smart home industry leaders (from platforms like Google Home, Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa and Samsung SmartThings to smart device makers like Philips Hue, August Home, Nanoleaf, TP-Link and hundreds more) have all partnered together to create a new, single technology for smart home devices. This ensures that they can all easily speak to one another and can be controlled from any Matter-certified smart home platform.

To add Matter to Google Home, or any other smart home platform, simply add a device that acts as a Matter hub with the smart home platform that you are using.⁶ After adding a device that works as a hub for Matter, you will be able to easily set up Matter devices and control them remotely when away from home.⁷

Matter was created by smart home industry leaders working together with the vision of solving smart home device compatibility issues across ecosystems.⁶ Before this, smart home devices were built and designed to work with specific smart home platforms. Additionally, they were only controllable over certain smart home connectivity technologies like Wi-Fi, Zigbee or Z-Wave.

As a result, many smart home consumers were frustrated by the lack of compatibility from one device to another. This made it difficult to choose which devices would work in their home or with their smart home platform app of choice.

Matter, the new, universal standard for smart home devices, was created to make smart devices more compatible, easier to set up and more reliable. And for connecting devices together, Matter devices use either your home Wi-Fi network or Thread, the latest connectivity technology for faster smart devices that reach further than ever before in your home.

A hub device for Matter is required for every smart home platform that you want to control your Matter smart devices with. This enables you to set up your Matter devices and to control them remotely when you are away from home.⁷ Once you have a Matter hub added to your Google Home, all of your favourite Google, Works with Google Home and Matter devices will work together seamlessly and smoothly.

Thread is the latest wireless technology like Wi-Fi, but designed specifically for smart home devices.

Smart devices that use Thread to connect with one another work faster and reach further than smart devices that only use Wi-Fi to connect.

Thread also uses less power than Wi-Fi, so certain smart devices that use batteries (e.g. sensors and door locks) can last much longer between battery changes.

Thread devices create a mesh network to make your smart device connections stronger.

Thread devices require a Thread border router to connect them together. This border router also acts as a bridge between your Thread network of smart devices and your existing home Wi-Fi network. This allows Thread-enabled devices to communicate with other non-Thread smart devices and also access the Internet. Additionally, this expands the reach of your smart home and enables communication between devices that might be too far away from each other to work over Wi-Fi alone.