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Good news if you’re the proud owner of Nest’s eponymous, puck-shaped security system controller: Nest Guard. It now responds to voice commands, specifically those of the Google Assistant variety. Starting today, Guard can preheat ovens, toggle off connected lightbulbs, lock smart deadbolts, and more — entirely hands-free.
“Let’s face it: Getting out the door can be hectic sometimes … and we could all use a little assistance in streamlining our routines,” Google wrote in a blog post. “[Now] you can ask [Nest Guard] questions like, ‘Hey Google, do I need an umbrella today?'”
Google Assistant on Guard is as full-featured as they come. It can command devices like the Nest thermostat, of course (“Hey Google, make it cooler”) or see who’s at the door via Nest’s Hello video doorbell, but it can also manage things like setting reminders (“Hey Google, add a meeting to my calendar”), adding items to shopping lists (“Hey Google, add milk to my shopping list”), and creating calendar appointments. That’s in addition to the other skills in Google Assistant’s wheelhouse, like serving up weather forecasts, delivering the day’s news, providing flight status and traffic updates, and kicking off routines, the scheduled commands that execute multiple tasks in a sequence.
Guard, for the uninitiated, serves as the brains of Nest Secure, Nest’s eponymous home security solution. It’s wireless and contains a keypad from which the system can be enabled or disabled. Alternatively, Guard can be triggered to disarm via NFC with Nest’s Tags key fobs or from Nest’s smartphone app or the Google Assistant.
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Meanwhile, Secure — which was announced in September 2017 during a press conference held at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco — is a $499 whole-home security bundle that includes Guard and two Tags, along with two Nest Detects — two-piece battery-powered sensors that serve as simple motion detectors and trigger an alarm when a door or window opens. And Nest offers professional home monitoring and alarm response through third-party provider Moni, cellular backup through T-Mobile, and a first-party wireless repeater — Nest Connect — that extends the range of Secure’s mesh network.
Secure also ties in with a specially branded deadbolt from lock maker Yale — the Nest x Yale lock — that can disarm the system.
Today’s news comes a few months after the aforementioned Nest x Yale lock gained compatibility with Google Assistant, and just about a year after the Nest team was folded into Google’s hardware division. Nest, which was cofounded by former Apple engineers Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers in 2010, was acquired by Google in January 2014 and now sits under its parent company, Alphabet. But it wasn’t until relatively recently that it recommitted to integrating Google Assistant functionality into its product portfolio.
In addition to the Nest x Yale smart lock, Nest Thermostat, Hello video doorbell, Secure, and now Guard, the Nest Cam IQ Indoor and Nest Cam IQ Outdoor cameras also work with Google Assistant.
