On October 1, 2025, Google threw open the doors to a new era in smart home technology, unveiling a sweeping set of upgrades powered by its Gemini artificial intelligence platform. The day marked the official retirement of the Nest Aware subscription, with Google Home Premium now stepping into its shoes—offering users a reimagined, AI-driven experience that promises to make managing a connected home more natural, more powerful, and, perhaps, a little more fun.
According to 9to5Google, the new Google Home Premium subscription comes in two flavors: Standard and Advanced. The Standard plan, priced at $10 per month or $100 annually, delivers 30 days of event-based video history from cameras and doorbells, along with what Google calls "whole-home history"—a feature that lets users track activity from all compatible devices straight from the Home app. Subscribers also benefit from intelligent alerts that can recognize familiar faces, packages, or even a garage door left open. Sound detection is built in too, with the system capable of hearing glass breaking or smoke alarms. And for those moments when things go sideways, emergency calling is just a tap away.
But that’s only the beginning. As reported by Google’s own announcement, the Standard plan also unlocks Gemini Live for hotword-free, ongoing conversations with the AI, and "Help me create"—a conversational tool for generating automations. This means you can set up routines or control your home simply by chatting with Gemini, no need to memorize specific commands or repeat yourself ad nauseam. For those already on the $19.99/month Google AI Pro plan, the Standard tier comes bundled at no extra charge.
Step up to the Advanced plan—$20 per month or $200 a year—and the AI magic gets even stronger. Here, users receive 60 days of event video history and up to 10 days of continuous, 24/7 video coverage. The real showstopper, though, is the integration of Gemini’s advanced capabilities: you can now search your video history using complex, conversational queries. Want to know when your kids got home, or if you left the car door open? Just ask. Gemini will not only find the relevant footage but also generate detailed event descriptions and daily Home Brief summaries, making it easier than ever to keep tabs on your household. For AI Pro subscribers, upgrading to Advanced is a simple $10 add-on, while those on the $249.99/month Google AI Ultra plan get Advanced included automatically.
But Google’s ambitions stretch well beyond subscriptions. As Lifehacker points out, Gemini for Home isn’t just a new name for Google Assistant—it’s a complete overhaul of how users interact with their smart devices. Previously, Google Assistant was “functional, not intuitive or natural,” according to the company. Now, with Gemini, conversations become more fluid and context-aware. If you’re troubleshooting an appliance, you don’t need to repeat yourself. Ask Gemini about a dishwasher problem, follow up with more details, and the AI keeps track of the context, providing step-by-step help without missing a beat. And for those tired of saying “Hey Google” over and over, Gemini Live lets you kick off a conversation mode for seamless back-and-forth exchanges.
Gemini also flexes its muscles when it comes to handling complex commands. Want to turn off all the lights except in one room? Or add every ingredient for a Pad Thai recipe to your shopping list in one go? Gemini’s contextual understanding makes these requests feel effortless. The AI’s reach extends to entertainment too—describe a movie scene, and Gemini will try to identify the song you’re thinking of, even if you can’t remember the title.
Smart cameras are getting a substantial upgrade as well. Gone are the days of bland, low-information alerts. With Gemini for Home, notifications come with a full narrative, letting you know if it’s a delivery at the door or just a passing shadow. The AI summarizes all the day’s video clips and allows you to search them using natural language. If you’re curious about a specific event—like when the kids arrived home or whether the garage was closed—just ask. Gemini will sift through the footage and deliver the answer, no tedious scrolling required.
All these features are tied together by a thoroughly redesigned Google Home app, which Google claims now boasts over 100 new features and performance improvements. The company’s stated goals? Make it “faster, more reliable, and complete.” According to Lifehacker, the app is now over 70% faster on some Android devices, with crashes down by nearly 80%. Smart camera live views load 30% faster, and playback failures have dropped by 40%. The new layout includes three main tabs: Home (for device controls), Activity (for a history of everything happening in your home), and Automations (for creating and managing routines). Nest app features, like thermostat and smoke detector management, are now integrated, and the new "Ask Home" feature lets users find devices, automations, or camera clips using plain language queries.
For developers, the October 1 announcement is just as significant. As described in Google’s developer blog, Gemini for Home is now the foundational platform for the entire Google Home ecosystem, replacing Google Assistant on speakers and displays, and bringing advanced conversational control and automation to over 800 million connected devices via Cloud-to-Cloud APIs and Matter. Google is encouraging developers to test their integrations with Gemini’s new features, promising improved monitoring tools later in the year to help ensure reliability and performance.
Perhaps the most intriguing move is Google’s new program for camera manufacturers. The company is offering partners a hardware reference design—complete with recommended System on Chips and image sensors—and a Google Home camera embedded SDK. This enables a best-in-class on-device machine learning framework that handles live view and event history in a unified way, powering features like Gemini AI descriptions. Walmart is already the first partner out of the gate, launching the onn Indoor Camera Wired and onn Video Doorbell Wired. These devices promise up to 1080p live view resolution and intelligent alerts, all deeply integrated into the Google Home ecosystem and available across a wide range of platforms, from phones and tablets to smart displays and TVs.
In short, Google’s October 2025 announcements signal a major leap forward for smart home technology, blending powerful AI with user-friendly design and broad device compatibility. As Gemini for Home rolls out across the globe, users and developers alike are being invited to participate in what Google hopes will be the truly helpful, AI-powered home of the future. Only time—and lots of real-world use—will tell if Gemini lives up to its ambitious promise, but for now, the smart home landscape looks more exciting, and a little smarter, than ever before.
