Gemini for Home AI upgrade on a Nest Hub Max display. Get natural language smart home control and Gemini Live access via your smart speaker in new Google update.(Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Google is speeding up its roll out of new Gemini-powered features to millions of existing Google Nest, Google Home and third-party smart speakers, the company has announced.

Google’s long-promised roll out of the Gemini for Home voice assistant began in October via an early access program. The company has extended the launch this week, rapidly inviting more people, including those using third-party devices, to join the program.

Read on for more and don’t miss my video below on what went wrong with the iPhone Air below.

Gemini for Home: The AI Upgrade Replacing Google Assistant On Google Nest Devices

Google Assistant has powered Google’s Nest and Home smart speakers, smart cameras, and other products since 2016. I have covered these devices extensively over the years, but the short of it was that the hardware often overshadowed the limited software, which wasn’t so smart.

Google’s October announcement even described the process of interacting with Assistant as “rigid.” This often resulted in (for me, at least) inaccurate responses and repeatedly asking for the same thing.

Gemini aims to fix that. Users will be able to ask their smart speaker questions in natural language, and Gemini will understand complex requests and maintain context. Google gives the example of searching for a song with limited information: “Hey Google, play the song from the movie where a bunch of oil workers fly to space to blow up an asteroid,” the blog post explained.

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Other examples of advanced smart home control include asking Gemini to switch off specific lights by description rather than using their actual name (e.g., ‘turn off all the lights, except for the office lights’). Or, asking Gemini to add ingredients for a dish to your shopping list by just naming the meal (e.g., ‘add ingredients for Pad Thai to my shopping list’).

For free-flowing conversations, users can say “Hey Google, let’s chat” to activate Gemini Live. Similar to how it works on smartphones, this allows for back-and-forth conversation without needing to repeat the hotword for every follow-up question.

Advanced Gemini Features for Google Nest Cameras and Smart Home Control

Google says that Gemini will also be able to give context to what Nest smart cameras capture, moving from alerts for simple motion to describing a scene such as ‘a USPS delivery driver placing a package on the porch and walking away.’ These events will be summarized into a daily recap called Home Brief, and video history will be searchable using natural language because Gemini can understand what it is looking at.

It’s worth noting that advanced camera features like Home Brief, AI Descriptions, and Video History Search, as well as Gemini Live, require a Google Home Premium subscription.

How to Get Gemini for Your Google Nest Smart Speaker

The Gemini for Home voice assistant is being brought to all compatible speakers, smart displays, cameras, and doorbells made in the last decade via the early access program.

The main way to sign up is through the Google Home app: open the app, tap your profile picture in the top right, hit Home settings, and click Early Access to enroll. If you can’t find the Early Access option, you may need to Sign in to Google Groups (groups.google.com), tap Settings > Global settings, and confirm that “add me to their groups” is checked.

The Gemini for Home voice assistant upgrade on speakers and displays is currently reserved for users in the U.S. only. Google has announced that anyone in the U.S. who signs up for the voice assistant early access program should receive their invitation within 24 hours.

Users in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom can access the app-based Gemini features for their Google Nest device, such as the camera features and enhanced smart home control features. The voice assistant on speakers is expected to roll out to these and other regions in early 2026.