I just got the roll out i guess where google assistant no longer works and moved to gemini. The app it self now just opens on gemini. And I now have to give gemini permission to access my home. I dont really want to do that. Any work arounds on this? Or am I stuck having to give the AI access?

I was searching for celebrities on my Google home (with screen) and it told me it can no longer show photos, but told me to go to Google to view photos? Why?

I've discovered a regression since Google replaced Assistant with Gemini on Android.

I use Orbit B-hyve sprinklers integrated with Google Home.

For years, I could say:

"Hey Google, turn on sprinkler zone 7."

Google Assistant would correctly activate zone 7.

Now, with Gemini on my Android phone:

I ask it to activate zone 7.

Gemini acknowledges the request.

Gemini tells me it's completed the action of turning on zone 7

Zone 1 activates instead, assuming it's just starting all of them in sequence.

Here's the interesting part.

The exact same command still works correctly on my Google Home devices running the original Google Assistant.

Same sprinkler system. Same third-party integration. Same voice command.

The only difference is Gemini versus Google Assistant.

This suggests Gemini may be losing the specific zone information when executing the command, effectively treating "turn on zone 7" as a generic "turn on sprinklers" request.

I can't confirm where the parameters are being lost, but the difference in behaviour is clear.

I've raised this with Google Support. So far, they've suggested changing my commands, clearing caches and re-linking the integration. I've requested escalation to engineering because none of those suggestions explains the demonstrated difference between the two assistants.

My concern is that Gemini confidently reports success while physically activating something other than what was requested.

Has anyone else experienced Gemini losing specific device names, zones or other parameters when controlling third-party smart-home devices?

This isn't about Gemini failing to understand English. It's about Gemini apparently understanding the request but executing the wrong action.

I've always said "Hey Google, where's my phone?" when I've misplaced the phone in my house. It has always started ringing.

For the first time, Google snapped back and is now training me on what I should have said, which is "Hey Google, find my phone". IOW Google is not as clever as it used to be.

In the Home app on my phone I've still got Google Assistant and haven't made the switch to Gemini. I wonder if Gemini could have taken over Google Home by stealth, when receiving commands via the nest hub.

I thought it would be cool to automate simple things for my kids to hear, for example at 8 am, the date and 2 historical events that happened today.

Or at 5:30, give me a cooking tip.

These should be basic requests.

What happens is Google Home just says it doesn’t recognize my voice so it can’t fulfill the request. (Those are not exact words, I am just translating from French, our Google Home is all set to only French).

How I set it up is you click on the +, then Automation, set Starter for time, then set Actions to “Ask Google” and type in your request.

I reported this last week, I don’t know if anything will happen.

Another thing I don’t like is that I want to refer to specific information in my notes, for example, my recipe for a stew, how many carrots it calls for. It can’t do that either.

Since yesterday, my doorbell is not showing me a live feed. It is working because it can show all 24/7 recording history.

I've tried a network restart, power cycle, different devices, clearing app cache. The only thing I've not tried is a device reset, which I'd rather not do.

Anyone else been suffering with this, or had this in the past?

Just got a google nest hub 2
I was looking for any stopwatch or timer ability that‘s possible. I did found that there’s a alarm app, so why there’s no hint of a stopwatch or a timer app? do I need to update or download this feature?

This just started today. I moved into my current place probably about two months ago and live with two roommates.

Occasionally throughout the day I been hearing the "bling" of a device connecting to my nest followed by what sounds like silence over a phone, like hearing the air on the other end. Then eventually I get two dial tones and it disconnects. It's so weird and a bit freaky.

I have had it set to disallow others to cast/control media to it for a long time now sure enough it shows nothing connected to it. When I play own music it also doesn't show as controllable to my roommates.

I'm so confused and a little freaked out.

i came on here hoping for help, i had a google home about 7 years ago but it stopped working. im looking to get one again for very basic stuff, controlling my lights, playing music, alarms, occasional reminders. and im not looking to spend much at all. What do you all recommend?

This is absolutely garbage. I'll be switching off Home Premium ASAP.

I already pay $100/yr for Premium, but they want $200/yr just for me to be able to search my own recordings.

I sometimes mess around with local LLMs. And I realized that Gemma (not Gemini) gives nearly identical responses to certain questions when it is pre-scripted.

For example, if I ask it how to cook meth, both Gemini for Home and Gemma say EXACTLY this: "I cannot fulfill this request. I am programmed to be a helpful and harmless AI assistant. My safety guidelines prohibit me from providing instructions on how to manufacture illegal drugs or controlled substances."

EDIT: The point of my post is that Gemini for Home is actually Gemma. I do not need to know how to cook meth, it's just a generic question that I know will trigger the safety filter.

I have factory reseted 3 separate Google home minis, uninstalled and reinstalled the app but I keep getting stuck at this setup no matter what I do. Any advice? Or are they just all faulty?

It refuses to do two major things!!
(1) I have chosen a curated photo gallery from my Google Photos collection. It only shows random pics and empty place holders from this correct collection.
I’ve created new collections and it still messes up!! Ugh!!

(2) It refuses to play my local NPR station when it used to several weeks ago. The simple command “Play KUT FM” worked well. Now… nothing, nada. Just an excuse that it can’t play it.

I’ve read that it’s a firmware issue but I can tell that the unit has received a number of updates over the last few weeks but nothing corrects either issue.

My little old Google puck plays KUT FM (in Austin, Texas) with no problems.

Any ideas??

I have my doorbell named "Front Nest (Gen 3)" because it's a 3rd generation Nest.

A few months ago when I installed it and got a speaker for it. When it would ring, the speaker lady would say whatever it says, 'someone is here at' or whatever, and then "Front Nest Gen 3".

After an update a handful of weeks ago, now it reads "Front Nest General 3".

I've checked the name, and it hasn't changed. It's stupid and I'm sure some AI bullshit thinks it's smart by saying "General" instead of "gen".

Really wish it wasn't so dumb sounding when the doorbell rings now.

I'm listening to music on my Chromecast audio (still works) and adding my first gen Google homes (stereo pair) and home hub max in the speaker group and jamming out. Cast to Chromecast audio, add the speaker pair and home hub max on the fly, adjusting volume.... Pretty cool still

For the longest time I have used the prompt of 'can you set an alarm' or 'hi Google' to set alarms.

But it looks like it started up again and for the last couple of mornings the alarms haven't gone off.

I've reset and done everything I can think of and still no alarms are going off.

It says that I have alarms set so they ate in the system and my volume is not turned down.

Im not sure if its them trying to force me to link it to Gemini which I still haven't done yet.

Hey r/googlehome,

Many of us still have (or had) LG WK7 ThinQ speakers that got bricked after Google/LG dropped support. They just sit there as expensive paperweights.

A Google Engineering Manager named Tom Kubik (u/KubikHorizon) (x @KubikHorizon) spent his spare time reverse-engineering and building a new software stack for these speakers. He tried to post a proper thread here but Reddit auto-deleted it, so he could only leave comments on some older WK7 threads.

This is not my work — I’m just creating this post so the community can actually find and discuss it. All credit goes to him.

What it does

• Completely bypasses the dead Google/LG cloud services
  
• Restores local streaming: AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, moOde audio, etc.
  
• Runs a lightweight Alpine Linux stack on firmware slot B
  
• Stock firmware stays intact on slot A as a recovery fallback
  
• Non-destructive install
  

Repo (public domain, “by hobbyists, for hobbyists”):
https://github.com/tomkubik/WK7-reforged

Important note from the repo: the full featured path (unlocked bootloader / “orange” verifiedbootstate) has been tested on real hardware. The locked-bootloader path for normal retail units (“green”) is marked experimental and has never been tested.

A quick note on the hardware side: according to the GitHub, an exposed Micro-USB port is supposed to be only on Developer / Service units, while standard retail units should have the service port hidden under the bottom rubber foot. My unit is a normal retail speaker (European version) and has a clearly visible USB port on the back once you peel the “Service Only” sticker. I never removed the bottom rubber, so I don’t know if there’s a second internal port. I tried connecting via that rear service port (direct to a motherboard USB port, power-cycling while plugged in, etc.) on both Windows and Linux, but the speaker was never detected. I’m not an engineer, so I may have missed something simple.

If anyone with a retail unit (especially European ones) has managed to get ADB detection working, or if the hardware layout differs by region, it would be really useful information for others.

If you still have a WK7 collecting dust and know your way around ADB / Android Things / USB debugging, this is currently the most complete revival effort available. Huge thanks to Tom for putting this together in his free time.

Feel free to leave feedback, questions, success/failure reports, or detection tips here so others can benefit.

Back in 2019 I got a free Google Nest Mini through their collaboration with Spotify. It has been a good servant over the years, but more recently it’s become really glitchy when playing music through Spotify. It misunderstands the most basic song requests I say to it, it always plays a remix or acoustic version instead of the original song, and in the Spotify app I have to physically press a song hard and often twice for it to play, otherwise it restarts the song that is already playing. I know I can’t complain too much about a free product 7 years later but has anyone else experienced this?