● Covered by 1 source · 1 reportLow impact1 neutral
Google Home app updates improve widget efficiency, device tile display, and setup reliability
Key points
- Home widget pauses background updates when screen is off to save battery.
- Fixes grayed-out device tiles for sensors, cameras, and detectors.
- Improves multi-account switching and smart device setup reliability.
- Addresses camera live stream and history scrolling issues on Android and iOS.
Battery Efficiency for Home Widget
The Google Home app's homescreen widget has been optimized to conserve battery life. It now pauses background updates and polling when a phone's screen is powered off, locked, or running a screensaver. This change aims to reduce battery consumption for both the phone and connected cameras, while ensuring immediate widget refresh upon unlocking the device.
Resolved Device Tile Display Issues
Google has addressed a problem where device tiles for sensors, cameras, and smoke/carbon monoxide detectors would appear grayed out after users returned from device controller screens. This fix eliminates the need to manually reload the screen to view device status.
General Quality Improvements
The update includes several quality improvements across the Google Home app. Multi-account switching is now more reliable, reducing "Home not found" errors and preference resets. Smart device setup has been enhanced by resolving onboarding issues and eliminating stalls during Wi-Fi pairing, leading to a smoother experience for adding new devices. Additionally, a startup crash on Google TV devices has been resolved, and in-app banners have improved UI for triggering actions.
Camera Functionality Enhancements
Specific fixes have been implemented for camera features. On Android, the reliability of camera live stream tiles has improved, preventing temporary black screens when returning from full-screen view. Video timeline scrolling for camera history on Android now smoothly navigates past unrecorded or offline gaps without freezing. For iOS users, an issue where tapping the "Live" button during recorded events failed to smoothly redirect to the live view has been fixed.
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Reporting from
Google has updated its Home app with optimizations for the homescreen widget to save battery by pausing background updates when the phone screen is off. The update also resolves an issue causing device tiles to appear grayed out and includes various quality improvements for multi-account switching, device setup, and camera live streams.