Google Home finally adds support for buttons

Google Home users, your agelong nightmare is over. The level has finally added support for buttons. The merchandise notes for a February 2 update authorities that respective caller starter conditions for automations are now available, including “Switch aliases fastener pressed.”

Smart buttons are physical, programmable switches that you tin property to trigger automations aliases power devices successful your smart home, specified arsenic turning lights connected aliases off, opening and closing shades, moving a Good Night scene, aliases starting a robot vacuum.

A awesome replacement to sound and app power erstwhile you want to power aggregate devices, smart buttons are often wireless and mostly person respective ways to property them: azygous press, double press, and agelong press, meaning 1 fastener tin do aggregate things.

Most smart location platforms support utilizing buttons to power connected devices, including Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, and Home Assistant. With the presence of Matter, an interoperability modular for connected devices, it’s go easier to power each of your devices pinch buttons (called a generic switch successful the Matter spec).

However, Google Home has frustratingly not had this functionality — until now. The merchandise notes specify that the pursuing usability is now supported successful the Google Home app (but not by Ask Home aliases Help Me Create, Google’s Gemini for Home-powered automation features):

One logic Google whitethorn person yet made this move is the caller rollout of Ikea’s caller Matter-over-Thread devices. This includes the $6 Bilresa, a wireless fastener that comes successful 2 shape factors: pinch 2 buttons aliases pinch a scroll-wheel button.

While smart buttons are very useful, to day they’ve been somewhat niche — chiefly because they’re comparatively costly ($20 to $50) and mostly connected to proprietary ecosystems aliases hub-based protocols specified arsenic Zigbee aliases Z-Wave. With Matter, the request for a dedicated hub to link a fastener to your smart location level has been removed, and astatine $6, Ikea’s caller buttons are ace affordable.

This should unfastened up the nosy and functionality of buttons to much smart location users. With Ikea’s immense personification guidelines now perchance poised to embrace the smart home, Google needed to measurement up its support.

Google is bringing a fewer different automation improvements pinch its latest update, including the expertise to tally an automation erstwhile a robot vacuum is docked, erstwhile humidity reaches a circumstantial level, and erstwhile the artillery authorities aliases binary authorities (closed aliases opened, interaction aliases nary contact, leak aliases nary leak) for a instrumentality changes.

The February 2 merchandise besides claims to bring a “foundational fix” for a recurring “Video not available” correction successful the Google Home app erstwhile attempting to playback videos.