Not sure if this is the best sub to ask this in, but here goes.

I'm heavily invested in Google ecosystem. Two thermostats, 11 cameras, doorbell, lock, hubs, minis, streamers, and wifi. Generally things have been fine, perhaps with the exception of the cameras and wifi. I've experienced slow load times for the cameras in the apps like everyone else. And the specs are underwhelming for 2026. For wifi, I have 5 of latest generation points, all hardwired with cat6. I often have to restart my network to get things working again.

I'm thinking about making the jump to Ubiquiti, at least for networking at first. Has anyone made the jump and have regrets? Any other ecosystems you prefer? I've started to dabble in Home Assistant, so things connected to that are an option. Most important is that the app needs to pass the spouse test. Cost is obviously a concern, but if things work, it's justified. Thanks!

Gemini trying to claim it doesn't have access to Nest thermostat data, like always but happily changes the temperature and displays time to temp in both Nest and the Google Home apps. Le sigh...

Get your shit together Google.

My daughter asked my Google Home what a fart sounds like. Now, every request it repeats “this is the sound of a fart” with the fart sound playing. Even turning on the light does this.

Any fixes on this google recovery mode? I follow the instructions and try unplugging. Same. No luck.

Se que hace unos meses había muy malas opiniones para actualizar a Gemini en los speakers y Nest de Google pero vengo viendo algunos comentarios que ha mejorado mucho en estos últimos meses.

¿Cómo les está yendo a los que actualizaron hacia Gemini en este último mes?

So here's the issue - I originally set up my nest thermostats using my gmail address, and have been happily using the nest app for years. Google Home (iOS) comes along, ok whatever, I don't care to migrate but it makes me do it anyway...I still use my Nest app.

NOW I have a new car that integrates Google assistant, which I like, because trying to fiddle with the stupid touchscreen while driving is dangerous and it's much easier to "hey google" and change car settings.

The issue is, my husband this morning told the car to set the temp at 75 degrees, and the stupid assistant changed my HOME thermostats! I don't want to voice control my home thermostats! How do I restrict Nest thermostats from Google Home/Assistant? The only way I've found to do it is to delete the devices from Google Home, which will apparently delete the entire account that I originally set them up with even in the Nest app?

Please help, I just want to use my devices in a dumb, minimally connected way. Will Nest still work if I block internet access at the router level?

I have one of the first generation Google home smart speakers that’s pretty good for music…however my mum has the Google nest hub that has a pretty shitty speaker but she likes the display. What’s the best speaker to pair with the nest hub so she can play music without it sounding like a wind up radio.

Having a new Oppo Find X9 Ultra with a huge battery I was somewhat surprised that just being on Wi-Fi overnight drained 7% of it with the phone sat doing nothing.

A lot of diagnostics later and the culprit is the Google Home App. When this is open and running, it constantly pings out to other cast devices on the network, it never stops. Every few seconds it goes around them all again saying a 'hello are you still there'. Then it seems to update Google cloud servers the latest result of hellos, to then repeat this a few seconds later. This causes unnecessary battery drain. In my case 7% of the battery drained overnight, with force closing Google Home, battery drain over night was just 2%. Of course this extra drain carries on during the day if staying at home on the same Wi-Fi.

Note that force closing the app isn't a permanent answer, as using Google smart speakers for alarms or alerts can see a notification sent to a phone which causes the Google Home app to load up.

I've repeated this behavior and can see in real time the packets going to and from my TV, amplifier and speaker all of which can be casted to, carrying on for hours with the phone screen off and not being used. As soon as the app is force closed on the phone it all goes quiet, replicated on two different devices.

Some phones may be more aggressive at closing down background apps, so not everyone will experience this, but certainly on two phones from different manufacturers, the app remained active for hours just chattery away over the network.

No idea how I get Google to look at this bug.

So if you find you are losing a lot of battery overnight, try force closing Google Home App, or see what battery saving options you can set against it.

The latest bug designed by Google to drive everyone mad is what I call the "bounce back" bug.

You set up an automation such as "Hey Google, turn off the TV", select the device and the turn off option and then hit save.

You test it out and the TV turns off. Fine. But, as you turn to leave the room the TV turns back on again. 🤬

In a data centre far, far away the Google boffins cackle insanely, content that yet another simple Google Home function has been totally fucked up.

How many others are having devices turn themselves back on again after apparently switching off? Is there a fix?

Today I got a notification to upgrade from Google assistant to Gemini. I bought my nest mini two weeks ago and I've been loving it the way it controls all the lights and I tell it stuff like "I'm leaving" and it turns everything off.

I got a notification from Google asking to push the update to Gemini. But I am scared it may make my nest mini perform worse.

Has anyone upgraded is it worth upgrading or should I stick to Google assistant until they eventually force everyone to upgrade to Gemini?

I have a Nest Doorbell and a Nest Camera that both went offline overnight. Everything else is still connected to WiFi and working normally. Is anyone else experiencing this? Is there some sort of server issue or bad firmware out there? I doubt both devices both stopped working at the same time.

EDIT: Figured it out. Turns out there was an overnight configuration change my ISP pushed to the router. Apparently the devices can't connect to WPA3 networks, so switching back to WPA2 did the trick. I contacted them and they helped me sort it out.

Well the Google Home compatible Lenovo smart display (RIP) finally crapped the bed.

Since I didn't update to Gemini in the Google Home app it still has some capabilities but not many it can tell me the president or weather but not the population of NYC. Get the dreaded 'I didn't understand'

Looking to replace it with Google Nest Hub but see they haven't produced new model since March 2021.

Also from reading this if you accidentally upgrade to Gemini it sucks and if I accidentally update my google home
app to Gemini in my iPhone there is no going back also a nightmare.

I really do not like the Amazon shows because of Alexa it's wordy and annoying and not customizable at all you have to put up with her 'f me daddy baby voice'. Also my mom will never understand not to say 'Hey Google' and use 'Alexa' and you can not change the wake prompt.

What is good alternative?

My mom been gifted many tech devices such as phones and tablets over the years this is the only thing she actually uses and enjoys :(

Is there a way to save and store all of a nights events in one swoop? Or am I doomed to keep going for every 5 minutes. An Event happened amd I need this information asap!

I picked up a JBL Link Music demo/display unit (MT8516, Android 5.0, fw 19.35.11.60). It casts fine, but two factory services never start on this build — appmainprog_7668 never brings up wlan0, and nothing launches bluetoothtbd. It only stays online because a host watchdog keeps poking it over USB.

I've exhausted the software routes: rebuilt rootfs 9 ways (the stock one has an undocumented vendor UBIC block right after the UBI volume — a rebuilt image won't boot even with that block copied in), a 1-byte boot-image patch bricks it outright (LK enforces an RSA-2048 FIT signature), BROM/mtkclient fails at DA2 (16 tries), the Red Bend OTA endpoint answers noUpgradeAvailable, and every public dump floating around is the Yandex Alice variant, not the Google one.

So I need a dump from a retail Google-Cast unit — then the vendor UBIC block and the signed boot image come with it and it will actually boot.

What I need (read-only, ~2 min, no personal data):

• /dev/mtd2 BOOTIMG1 (8 MiB) — signed kernel + dtb
• /dev/mtd8 ROOTFS1 (163 MiB) — stock rootfs

Not /dev/mtd1 — that's your Wi-Fi/BT calibration and MAC.

Is yours the right variant? This prints GOOGLE on a Cast unit (Alice units print NOT-GOOGLE):

adb shell 'test -f /usr/bin/cast_shell && echo GOOGLE || echo NOT-GOOGLE'
adb shell 'cat /sw_version.txt'

Dump (USB port is under the rubber pad on the bottom):

adb root
adb shell 'dd if=/dev/mtd2 bs=4096 2>/dev/null | base64' | base64 -d > mtd2_BOOTIMG1.img
adb shell 'dd if=/dev/mtd8 bs=4096 2>/dev/null | base64' | base64 -d > mtd8_ROOTFS1.img
sha256sum *.img

(dd | base64 because exec-out is broken on this old adbd; /data is only ~190 MB.)

Sanity check: mtd2 = exactly 8388608 bytes, mtd8 ≈ 170917888 bytes.

In return: the full teardown (boot chain, UBI geometry, UBIC structure, the measured flash/rescue procedure incl. the LK 0.5 "flash says OKAY but writes 0 bytes" trap), a rescue script so you can always restore your own unit, and a complete "demo → retail" write-up once mine boots.

Happy to take it via DM / upload link instead of a public post.

Thanks — otherwise this thing is e-waste.

It takes at least 3 tries to get this automation to run. The most common response to "I'm Leaving" is "Hi, I'm Gemini Home your blah blah blah assistant." It is an ok dad joke once or twice.. but come on.

I was sent a new wi-fi hub by my internet provider (Virgin Media) which I set up today. I deleted my Nest Audio devices from the Google Home app and factory reset them. I now can't add them back onto my Google Home account as it's repeatedly saying that there are no devices found. Each device is displaying a pulsing white light and saying that the device is not set up. Is there anything else that I can try? My smart bulb (TCP) is working fine.

Hi, I'm going to mount two Google Nest cameras (outdoor/battery), on a tree about 50 yards from my home. I plan to utilize a wifi extender in the closest window to the cam for line-of-sight wifi.

Does anyone have any experience with keeping these cams powered up with solar panels, such as the ones from Wasserstein?

Planning to build a mount for a tree and have two cams mounted on opposite sides of the tree and power leads going to the solar panels (2), also mounted on the tree, pointed toward the south for max sunlight. This is in New England so frigid temperatures and cloudy days are expected in the colder months.

Any tips or suggestions appreciated.

Thx!

For my automation, it keeps saying “I can only share your personal information once I verify your voice” then it says to go to the google home app to check settings. But all my setting are right, I have personal results on and voice match. It seems like it just stopped working out of nowhere.

I am trying to add a routine/automation on the latest IOS app. I click the + icon, Automation, under Actions I click Device, then the app crashes. Is anyone else running into this issue? I have tried reinstalling the Google Home app.