Google Nest smart speakers cut the chat with new feature update

If you have a Google Nest smart speaker and hate how much it talks to you, this new feature update will be a game changer. Instead of constantly chatting to you and confirming what it’s doing, Google is updating its smart home devices with a clever chime feature.

For amazing audio quality and easy voice controls, the Google Nest line of smart speakers are rated as some of the best smart speakers on the market today. Both the Google Nest Mini and the Google Nest Audio deliver seamless and innovative controls, thanks to the Google ecosystem and Google Assistant voice commands.

Having smart home voice control has revolutionised the way we go about our day-to-day tasks. By simply saying “Ok Google”, your Google Nest smart speaker helps you organise your day, control your other smart home devices and save time. While this feature is incredibly helpful for many households, it can get a little annoying if your smart device is constantly talking to you.

For those of you who have been wanting fewer verbal responses from your Google products, Google is finally listening and cutting the chat. In a blog post from Google Nest Community, Google announced that “based on invaluable input from the Google Nest community and feedback from our own internal trials, we’re expanding the use of chimes to acknowledge smart home commands to control devices in the same room.”

This new chime feature has already been in action when adjusting the lights around your house. Rather than letting you know what it’s doing, the Google Nest smart speaker simply chimes as a response, something many users enjoyed and requested for wider use with other commands… and Google has responded accordingly (and quietly, too).

To put this into context, Google’s blog gave an example of how the new chime update will work with adjusting the fan in the room you’re in. “After you’ve said, ‘Ok Google, turn on the fan,’ rather than hearing a verbal response like, ‘Ok, turning on fan’ from the speaker / smart display, you’ll instead hear a pleasant chime to confirm that Google is turning on your fan.”

This chime feature is being rolled out for additional Google smart home devices in the next few weeks. Alongside Google Nest’s smart speakers, its outlets, switches, TVs, fans and blinds will also get this new functionality.

This feature update will undoubtedly save people a lot of time and frustration. It goes without saying that if you’ve asked your Google Nest smart speaker to turn down the volume, you should just be able to tell by hearing the sound go down, rather than Google loudly announcing that it’s doing it for you. So, the chime will definitely appeal to many people who find this irritating.

However, one slight issue that The Verge pointed out is that the chime will only work when you’re in the same room as your Google Nest smart speaker. If you’re in a different room and ask your smart speaker or Nest Hub Max to turn off the fan in your kitchen, it’ll loudly announce what it’s doing. This is still something that needs to be addressed by Google, but this new update is definitely a good sign for things to come – we hope so, anyway.