Best Google Home Compatible Devices | SafeWise (2024)

Aug 29, 2024

9 min read

Google Assistant is voice technology that's built into other devices, like a camera or alarm clock.

Google Home is a smart speaker with Google Assistant built-in. You can control a Google Home compatible device with your voice by syncing it with this speaker.

If you have Google Home, you're in the right spot.

Few devices embody the smart home as well as the Nest Learning Thermostat (about $280). This sleek thermostat isn’t just about smartphone apps and voice control. It learns your habits and makes minor tweaks over time to save energy.

You can also get remote sensors (about $38 each) that help the thermostat gauge the temperature throughout your home. These allow the thermostat to adapt your heating and cooling accordingly, so upstairs rooms get enough AC to stay pleasant during the summer. The Nest thermostat also tracks your smartphone’s location. This allows it to save even more energy by turning down the heater or air conditioner when nobody’s at home.

Check out our full review of the Nest Learning Thermostat or compare it to other smart thermostats.

Learn more: How the Nest Thermostat paved the way for smart home devices

SimpliSafe is our top pick for Google Home compatible DIY home security thanks to its affordability, excellent functionality, and customer-centric policies.

Professional monitoring starts at around $21 per month, but you won't get locked into a long-term contract. Choose from pre-bundled packages or pick and choose the equipment you need.

After pairing the SimpliSafe Hub with Google Home, you can say, "Hey Google, set the security system to Away." Note that you can't disarm this system with voice commands . . . otherwise it would be too easy for intruders to turn it off.

Read our SimpliSafe review to learn more.

Even though there are plenty of video doorbells that work with Google Assistant, we think the best option is the Nest Doorbell (wired) (about $180). It’s a bit more expensive than other brands but has more advanced features that make a world of difference.

Our favorite feature is probably the Nest Doorbell (wired) facial recognition, which is part of the paid Nest Aware subscription. It’s so cool because it learns to recognize frequent visitors like family and friends. This is great for knowing when each of your kids gets home or spotting suspicious lurkers by the front door.

Other notable features are package detection and pre-recorded messages. The package detection gives you a heads up when there’s a package on your porch, which is great when the delivery driver leaves it without knocking. Likewise, the pre-recorded messages make it easy to give guests instructions at your door like shooing away solicitors or asking someone to wait for you.

For more information, read our Nest Doorbell (wired) review.

Need help with installation? Check out our Nest cam installation and Nest cam troubleshooting guides.

The Nest x Yale (about $300) combines the attractive aesthetic of Nest with one of the best smart locks on the market. One of our favorite features is that the lock won’t let you use no-brainer pin codes—like 1234 and 0000—that are easy for uninvited guests to figure out.

You can assign custom pin codes for up to 20 people so everyone from your kids to your parents can get in the house. You can even schedule when certain codes work, so the dog walker gets in only when they’re on the job.

It also works with the Nest Doorbell (wired) so you can unlock the door for guests or lock down the house when you head off to work.

Learn more about the Nest x Yale in our Yale smart locks review.

The Nest Cam (battery) indoor/outdoor camera is one of the best security cameras available, with features like facial recognition, motion detection, 6x digital zoom, and night vision with HDR.

We like that this security camera has excellent two-way audio and you can check everything on your phone with the Google Home app. It includes up to 3 hours of event-based video history and then if you need more, you can add Nest Aware cloud storage subscription for a monthly fee.

Learn more: Read our Nest Cam (battery) review and see how it compares to other Nest camera models.

Few smart lighting brands stand out like Philips Hue (about $100). The company sells lights in many shapes and sizes. So you can customize your home with simple smartbulbs, lightstrips, and lamps, like adding color-changing bulbs to your TV room for more ambiance during movie night.

Philips Hue is more expensive than other smartbulb brands because you need to buy a starter kit that includes a hub. The hub connects your bulbs to Wi-Fi so you can use them with a mobile app or Google Assistant voice controls.

There’s also a huge selection of accessories like motion detectors and light switches. We especially like the Lutron Aurora (around $41) dimmer switch for Hue lights.

Learn more in our Philips Hue review.

Instead of replacing every light bulb, try swapping out the switch with a Kasa Smart Dimmer Switch (about $23). This is more affordable than buying smartbulbs and allows you to keep using your existing LED or CFL light bulbs.

Whether or not you use the dimming feature, it’s still very convenient to control the lights with your voice or a mobile app. Of course, you’ll need light bulbs that specifically support dimming. (The package or product description on the bulbs should say as much.)

A smart switch is also great for rooms where you want hands-free controls but don’t need dimmable lights like the laundry room, stairway, or hallways. Kasa even sells a switch without a dimmer if you want to save a few bucks.

The Wemo Mini (about $50) is an excellent smart plug because its compact size doesn’t block the other outlet on your wall plug. This is just a simple on/off switch, but you can set schedules and control it with a mobile app.

It’s particularly great for controlling lamps and fans in bedrooms, so you don’t have to climb out of bed to turn off the lights. One feature we like is Wemo’s Away Mode, which turns lights and plugs on and off at random while you’re out of the house. This makes it look like the family’s at home, even when you’re on vacation.

A smart plug like the Wemo Mini can help save energy on your electric bill by cutting off the power to energy-hungry devices you’re not using like cable boxes, air conditioners, and laptop chargers. Sadly, there isn’t any kind of energy monitoring to track exact electricity consumption, but that’s a niche feature anyway.

This is great for most people because it’s easy to install, especially if you’re not comfortable turning off the power to replace an in-wall outlet or if you live in an apartment.

Samsung SmartThingsis the best smart hub add-on for Google Home. After you link the SmartThings Hub to your Google Assistant devices using the Google Home app, you’ll get support for popular Zigbee and Z-wave devices.

This gives you tons of options for adding Google Home accessories and sensors that wouldn’t be compatible otherwise. When you’re buying sensors, we recommend checking out the company’s SmartThings devices first, but many third-party door and window sensors and cheap motion sensors are just as useful.

It might be overkill to want support for more brands than you need, but it’s one of the best ways to get all of the devices you desire.

Check out our full Samsung SmartThings review to learn more.

Follow these instructions after setting up the device you want to use with Google Assistant:

• Start by setting up a smart devicewith a built-in Google Assistant (e.g., smart speaker, smart display, Google Assistant smartphone app), which involves downloading the Google Home app on a smartphone or tablet.
• After setup, jump into the Google Home appand tap the plus sign “+” on the top left of the screen.
• Choose “Set up device”from the top of the menu. You’ll have two options:
  • Select “New devices”if the product is a Google device or says “Made for Google” on the box. Follow the prompts, and the device will connect automatically.
  • Select “Works with Google”for all other devices and type the product name or brand into the search box. After selecting the brand, the Google Home app will ask for login credentials to finish linking your device.
• In the last step, the Google Home app will ask you toassign devicesto specific rooms in your home before adding those devices to the app’s home screen.

You can now control your devices using Google Assistant and the Google Home App.

Read our guide to connecting Nest products to Google Home for additional information.

Yes. You canlink the two services togetherby creating an IFTTT account and linking it to Google Assistant from there. One of our favorite features is the option to set up single-word commands for Assistant, which makes it slightly faster to control specific lights and devices.

IFTTT also links tohundreds of other services and devices, so it can help you link two products together that aren’t naturally compatible with each other.

Thread is a smart home protocol that works a lot likeZigbee. It allows devices to communicate with each other without a Wi-Fi connection while having better range and using less energy than Wi-Fi. For now, Google seems to be the only consumer electronics brand that uses this protocol.

You can find Thread technology inalmost every type of Google Nest productexcept security cameras, Google Nest smart speakers, and the Google Nest Hub.

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