Google Home 12+

As with all new things getting used to the app at the same time as learning about setting up a smart home took a little while. For the most part I didn’t have many problems, the ones I did find are as follows. If you select “more settings” when the Google Assistant” is already open it does not always open the page with the settings on it. If you have this issue make sure you close Google Assistant before selecting “more settings” from Google Home. Occasionally Google Home just closes presumably due to some error and this seems one more to be due to switching from the settings on the Assistant back to the Home app. Finally I would highly recommend the Google Support char web facility which are very good. It will take a while to understand all the verbal and or typed commands but I would recommend making a list of the useful ones.

For such a huge company to produce an app like this that is so vital for controlling your Google Nest network is just astonishing. It’s absolutely terrible. You can’t find anything within it, settings for various aspects of your network are hidden inside secret books and crannies that defy logic in finding. They’ve migrated everything from the better (though not perfect) Google WiFi app to this one - why? And I don’t think all the controls have been migrated across. Or else they have and they’ve been hidden somewhere only the designers know where. The app shows, for example, that in this house we have zero devices connected to the Network. So how am I writing this review, Google? I can’t prioritise a device to improve the bandwidth that Google WiFi somehow restricts because there are apparently no devices connected. I can’t see why my Internet quality is so poor on this network despite my “lightning quick” 100mbps broadband service because the testing capability has gone somewhere very mysterious. When I bought the Google WiFi equipment I was told it was smart tech and would optimise itself automatically, but really I’m better off just using the basic hub my broadband company gave me. Good Lord.

The app itself is fine, if a little complicated. The products that the app is designed to work with do NOT work in shared accommodations. There is no safeguarding against other people changing your music on the home mini, changing what you’re watching in chromecast etc. I imagine it’s the same with smart bulbs or thermostats.

Everyone on the same WiFi can see everyone else’s devices locally, and google considers this a design choice, not a flaw. One slip of a finger and I’m casting music to someone’s speaker, and people are accidentally and maliciously casting to my devices. Good thing I got my mini for free, as it would be a waste of money.

Don’t bother unless you’re in a private house with private WiFi. 2 stars not 1 because the idea is great, but the execution is terrible. My solution would be the ability to lock devices to certain google accounts. It wouldn’t be hard to add a whole household onto a device, and would allow people in shared buildings to use the products as intended. Sort it out google!