Google Home is about to get this huge upgrade

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Google is redesigning its Home app to make it easier to control smart home devices.

Google Home
(Image credit: Future)

After Alexa, Google Home is the largest smart home platform, enabling you to control any number of lights, locks, and plugs just by saying "Hey Google." However, navigating the Google Home app isn't the most intuitive.

That could change with the newest version of the Google Home app, which promises a streamlined interface that will make it easier to connect to and control smart speakers and other smart home devices. 

The redesigned app (version 2.22.1.11 for Android, and version 2.22.116 on iOS devices) separates your rooms, groups, and devices into its own "Rooms and devices" menu higher up in the hierarchy, making it easier to discover. Simply tap the Settings icon in the top section of the home screen to find the new menu structure.

Additionally, a Services menu will provide access to streaming music and video services as well as video calls. It will also contain the Shopping list and 'Works with Google,' a list of all services compatible with Google's smart home platform. 

Other updates to the interface include a Features section, showing you notifications and a menu called Digital Wellbeing, where you can set limits on how often and when connected smart home devices are used.

These changes are certainly welcome compared to the current app, though, as we've noted in the past, Google needs to do more to enable the types of smart home interactions that are available in Alexa, as well as with Nest, which Google acquired and is in the process of integrating.

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Mike Prospero
Mike Prospero
U.S. Editor-in-Chief, Tom's Guide

Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.