Your Google smart home devices just got a lot less talkative

By Jon Bitner April 20, 2023

Smart assistants are an indispensable part of any smart home, making it easy to give hands-free commands and control a variety of gadgets. Google is looking to further streamline the performance of its smart assistant, with the expansion of chime alerts to cut down on how talkative your Google Nest gadgets are when responding to instructions.

For example, after asking Google to turn on a fan, you’ll now be able to hear a quick chime to confirm the assistant has heard your instructions. Previously, confirmation would come in the form of a short sentence, such as “OK, turning on your fan.”

A person standing in a living room while looking at a Google device. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s a minor change, but if you give frequent voice commands to your Google devices, it should make the process more streamlined than ever before. Carrying out multiple commands in a row was often bogged down by an overly talkative assistant. However, with the new ability to enable chime alerts, you should be able to zip from one voice command to the next without any delay.

This function already exists for smart lights, and Google will be expanding chime alerts to the following products over the next several weeks:

Outlets
Switches
TVs
Speakers
Fans
Blinds

This update is said to have been inspired by the Google Nest community, along with feedback from internal testing — so if you have any suggestions on how to improve the feature, be sure to check out the official Google forum post. The team is currently looking for ways to expand and enhance the use of chimes, and this could be a great chance to bring your Google Nest ideas to life.

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Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites…

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