The new Google Home app, which has been in public preview since November, has seen a number of improvements since it arrived on our devices. Google seems to be keen to listen to feedback about it and then come up with ideas that make it more and more useful.

This week Google announced 3 updates to the new Google Home app, two of which are major improvements. The third one is for Wear OS users, but it’s also important if you have Nest cameras and are receiving notifications from them.

  • Change the order of favorites: As that bold font explains, Google will give you the option to reorder your favorites on the Favorites page. This has been slowly rolling out for a month now and I still don’t have it, so if you do, I take my hat off to you friend. The option should appear right below the favorites list next to the Edit button. It seems like such a simple idea, but it’s actually very important for those of us who have a lot of favorites.
  • Faster live feeds from camerasA: Feeding Nest cameras isn’t the fastest thing on Google Home, so Google will work on that. In this week’s update, they claim they are “making improvements to the live view speed for cameras and how quickly you can access your camera recordings.”
  • Nest Cam Notifications on Wear OS: Those with a Wear OS watch will be able to see Nest Cam notifications on their watch with images included so you can see what just happened. I swear it’s an old longtime feature that’s just now making a comeback, or am I drunk on a Thursday morning? In any case, great! This only works with Nest cameras from 2021 onwards.

There are a lot of good things happening in the new Google Home app that I think got off to a bad start in the minds of many. It took me too long to get accepted into the preview program, but when I did, I think I mostly liked the app. After being warned not to join because the app was allegedly having problems, I have to say that I kind of like it. I despised the old Google Home app and do use that Favorites page as well as the pop-up media controls.

Do you all like the new Google Home app or not?

// Google Nest