Google Home now uses Nest speakers to determine your proximity

Google Home gets even smarter. Handy to make your home even more comfortable, with the help of Google Nest Speaker. But there are privacy concerns…

Google Home and Nest

Home automation, once the domain of science fiction films, is now an integral part of many people’s lives. And Google is a popular manufacturer of smart home hubs and equipment that you can connect to them. This is still under the brand name Nest, a company that Google has bought.

The cheapest and easiest way to turn your house into a smart home with Google gadgets is the Google Home Mini.

Handy energy saving function

Thanks to ultrasound-based remote sensing technology in Nest’s new speakers, Google can determine exactly where you are in your home. And take this into account, for example, by turning on the lighting and heating there, and turning down the heating in the room where you are in the room and turning off the light. Or you can, for example, think of background music that follows you, wherever you are in the house.

Do that follow these speakers anyway, for example because you have to activate them with the words ‘Hello Google’.

Coming to Google Nest speaker is new

There have been other Google devices that have this feature before, such as the thermostat, Nest Guard, Nest Protect, or Nest x Yale smart lock. Yet this expansion to Google Nest speakers is radical. These are often the only smart Google devices that Google home automation users have at home.

For those who prefer not to be tracked: this function is turned off by default. Do you want to enable this feature? Then you do that via the Google Home app. You will find the option under Settings and then Features.

This means that additional data is sent to Google again. But do you bring Google Nest equipment into your home? Then you have already chosen this.