Philips Hue bridges already set up in Google Home are switching to local Matter control, and owners won’t need to pair anything again.
The upgrade happens automatically in the background through Google Home hubs, which now send commands to Hue lights over your home network rather than through remote servers. Google says this makes the lights respond faster and more reliably.
Until now, Hue setups talked to Google Home through the cloud, so every tap in the app went out of the house and back before a bulb reacted.
Local control could also help when your broadband drops, although Google hasn’t said how much will keep working during an internet outage.
Other Matter devices connected through a compatible hub get local control in the same update, and Google promises the same speed and reliability gains for them.
Google has also redesigned the controls for third-party lights, plugs and switches. The full-screen controls for most devices now have a swipe-up panel with shortcuts to favourites, device history and settings.
Gemini for Home fixes
Gemini for Home, which is still in early access, gets a few fixes too. Say thank you at the end of a chat, and it now signs off with a short goodbye, but tell it to stop talking, and it closes the microphone straight away.
It’s also better at working out what you mean by “stop”. Before, asking it to stop music, a timer or an alarm could end the conversation instead.
Ask for relaxing, spa or meditation music and you’ll now get tracks from your linked music service, rather than rain or white noise.
Spoken forecasts now use the temperature unit set for your home in the Google Home app, so a home set to Celsius won’t hear the weather in Fahrenheit.
In the UK, you’ll only get these Gemini changes if you’ve joined the early access programme, which Google opened to the UK and 15 other countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific in April 2026.
Google Home app fixes and rollout
In the Google Home app, dragging and dropping to reorder Favourites should no longer misbehave, and a banner now shows what happened and when after a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm clears.
The changes are listed in Google’s release notes for 14 October. Google warns that some features may take a while to reach everyone, even if you’re on the latest version of the app.
Hue owners with a Google Home hub don’t need to do anything, but Google hasn’t said how long it will take to upgrade every existing setup.
