Building a better smart home

Expanding access for app and device developers

The smart home industry is constantly evolving, and we're committed to staying at the forefront of innovation. At I/O 2024 we announced how we reimagined Google Home as a platform for all developers. Since then we have reached major milestones and our first partners have begun launching apps built on our platform.

Our goal has remained the same - to make it easier for developers to create amazing experiences for users, and for those users to enjoy seamless connectivity and interoperability across all their devices. To that end, we are making a series of investments designed to enable all developers to build for the home.

Empowering developers with Home APIs

We believe that open platforms foster greater innovation, and it's clear that developers do too. We’ve had nearly 2,000 developers sign up to learn more about the Home APIs since I/O 2024 and that's why we're thrilled to announce the public developer beta launch of Home APIs - today for Android, and in the coming months for iOS. These APIs provide developers with the tools they need to build richer and more integrated smart home experiences.

This isn't just theoretical, our partners are already making headway. Early access partners Eve, Nanoleaf, LG, ADT and Tuya Smart have launched new apps and features built with the Google Home Platform, with even more partners like Cync, GE Appliances, Yale, and Aqara releasing in the coming months. At CES 2025, our partners are showcasing device control and automation experiences in their apps built using these APIs. Hisense and Aqara will demo how the Home APIs have helped them to create and surface automations for different areas of their users’ lives. SDMC will demonstrate how the Device & Structure API enables their users to control devices connected to Google Home directly in their apps.

Investing in connectivity and interoperability

Delivering a truly smart home requires seamless connectivity made effortless via our platform. Our investments in Matter are a foundational layer to the smart home experience, and we continue to increase our investments in this area across multiple fronts:

• Expanding Matter support: A hub for Google Home is critical to unlocking Matter's fast, secure and reliable experience - it enables remote access and fully local control of Matter devices. We've significantly expanded the reach of hubs for Google Home by integrating the Google Home runtime into over 40 million devices, including Google Nest devices, Chromecasts, Google TV devices on Android 14 and eligible LG TVs. This means more users can enjoy the benefits of Matter connectivity, with less work. You can learn more details on our expanded Matter support here.

• Increasing our investment to improve Matter quality: We firmly believe in Matter's potential to unify the smart home, and we are committed to its growth. That's why we, along with Apple and Samsung, are going beyond our existing commitments to Matter to further accelerate the improvement of quality for Matter. At Google, we're investing in Matter's growth in a number of new ways, including increasing development resources to enhance certification automation, interoperability scripting, and SDK bug fixes & maintenance.

• Streamlining certification with Connectivity Standards Alliance: In an effort to reduce time and costs for developers looking to certify software and products across multiple ecosystems, Google is excited to join Apple and Samsung in accepting Connectivity Standards Alliance Interop Lab test results. With this, you can now get certified with Works With Google Home for Matter devices without an additional certification process with Google.

• Making Thread more universal: One key customer challenge with Matter today is that Thread devices require a Thread Border Router (TBR) in the home for control. To address this challenge at the ecosystem level and expand TBR availability, we’ve partnered with MediaTek on the new Trinity chip (MT7903) that includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE and Thread on a single system-on-a-chip (SoC). This makes it easier and more affordable for device OEMs to build Thread into all their new products.

The Future of the smart home

We're incredibly excited about the future of the smart home, and we believe these investments will pave the way for a new era of innovation and interoperability. By empowering developers and fostering a robust ecosystem, we're making the dream of a truly connected and intuitive smart home a reality.

To make sure you are staying up to date with the latest news, announcements, and resources from Google Home, be sure to subscribe to the Google Home Developer Newsletter.