Google Home simplifies smart TV controls with a redesigned interface
The Google Home app is quite versatile, allowing you to control Google Home ecosystem products,now with supportfor thenew Matter smart home standard. We have been able to control smart home appliances like TVs and ACs. However, a handful of Google Home app users are starting to see on-screen buttons to control their TVs, just like the remote apps on phones with an IR blaster.
Controlling TVs using aNest Hubis straightforward, and 9to5Google reports that comprehensivetouch-button controlsjust like it are now coming to the Google Home app. If you have a smart TV with Assistant or Google Home support, these on-screen buttons allow you to perform actions like turning the TV on/off, muting or adjusting the volume, changing the channel, and playing or pausing content that’s playing. You can also use the app to change the selected digital input source on the TV.
Similar on-screen buttons within the Home app are also available for some smart speakers. An interesting design detail one could miss is most of the buttons are pill-shaped, except the play/pause controls, which are circular for both devices.
You can interact with this as long as you’re a member of the Google Home app’s Preview Program, trying to control a TV or speaker which doesn’t support Cast. You can interact with Cast-enabled devices using the media control feature of the Home app, but not the remote.
Borrowed Nest Hub remote controls are a step up for the Home app, clearing the air about the redesigned app-based controlsGoogle promisedback in August 2022. There’s no information available immediately about when this remote-like interface will roll out to all Google Home users.
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