Google admits Assistant on Home and Nest devices is broken, promises major fixes later this year

India Today

25-07-2025

Google has publicly acknowledged the ongoing widespread problems users have been facing with its Assistant feature on Home and Nest devices. The company has admitted that the smart home device experience for many users has deteriorated significantly recently. The tech giant has now promised that it is actively working on long-term solutions, with major improvements expected to arrive later this year.advertisementIn a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest, directly addressed the reported problem among users and wrote: 'I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologise for what you're experiencing and feeling.' 'We hear you loud and clear and are committed to getting this right and making sure we have a long-term solution that provides better reliability and capability. We have been actively working on major improvements for some time and will have more to share in the autumn.'
Post on X by Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest
Kattukaran's statement comes after several users raised complaints on forums like Reddit, about the problem of Google Home and Nest. Many users flagged noticeable decline in performance with the home assistance. According to users, these issues range from misinterpreted commands and inaccurate responses to devices completely ignoring requests. The issue has been frustrating for users, particularly among those who rely on the devices for daily routines, smart home control, and multi-room audio.
One Reddit user summed up the experience bluntly: 'Now, I can barely get it to understand any command, or do anything that I could before. Nothing works, and all I get is – 'Sorry, something went wrong, try again later.''For many, the problems with Google Assistant go beyond minor glitches. Users have reported that their Assistant triggers the wrong actions entirely, such as turning off lights when asked to switch off a fan, or playing media in the wrong room. In another case, a parent shared that they can no longer get white noise to play in their child's bedroom—it now defaults to the room the command is issued from, regardless of instructions.One user described how weather requests from different household members offer bizarre and inaccurate results: 'I ask for the weather, and it responds correctly every time. My wife asks for the weather, and it literally picks wherever it wants. Yesterday it was Eddyville, Kentucky. Today it picked Shawnee, Oklahoma. We don't even live in that state.'Even media playback has become unreliable. Another user recounted how asking Assistant to play 'Classic Vinyl' on SiriusXM instead launched a Spotify track by a band called 'Classic Vinyl,' which turned out to be an AI-generated country group with a politically charged song titled 'AOC.'- Ends