Google Home kicks off August with big app updates and a smarter Gemini for Home

Google announced updates to Gemini for Home and the Google Home app on Aug. 5, adding an interactive AI Storytime feature and expanding support for third-party security cameras. The company said the Storytime feature lets families create and modify stories using voice commands, such as replacing characters or changing plot points during narration. Gemini for Home also improved its handling of alarms, timers and natural language requests, including understanding 12-hour or 24-hour clock preferences and cooking timer queries. Google said a bug that left speaker light rings glowing after routines was fixed and a brief Spotify outage from late July was resolved. The Google Home app added support for cameras from Eufy, Tapo, Wyze, Reolink and Nanit, allowing users to view more feeds in one app. The update also includes quicker saving of recordings, improved live streaming reliability, easier camera navigation and platform-specific performance improvements. Home Premium Advanced subscribers receive AI-generated summaries of camera events. Automations are now available in more countries and languages, and smart lock integrations have improved notifications and error handling.