In order to determine your presence, Google Home no longer has to rely entirely on smart home appliances like thermostats. In order to better identify activity in your home and enable automated actions, Home’s optional presence sensing capability may now connect with Nest speakers and smart displays. Google might be able to turn on the lights if you speak to your Nest Audio or tap your Nest Hub, for example. The Soli radar sensor on second-generation Nest Hubs can also be used to detect your proximity.

By going to the Features section in the settings, you can turn on presence detecting in the Google Home app for Android and iOS. Google emphasises that this is purely opt-in and that background noise won’t cause presence cues to be sent. The expansion significantly increases the value of presence detection. It used to be necessary to use your phone’s location in conjunction with a Nest Guard, Nest Protect, Nest Thermostat, or Nest x Yale smart lock. Despite the fact that there are typically reliable clues, you might shut the door when someone is still at home. Google’s smart home automation system might be more dependable if speakers and displays were used, especially in odd circumstances.