Google has released an update to the Home app, enhancing widget behaviour and reducing bugs in Gemini for Home, as users encounter ongoing stability issues.
Google has pushed out an update to the Google Home app that changes how widgets behave when a phone is not actively in use. According to Ferra, widgets will no longer refresh in the background when the screen is off, the device is locked or a screensaver is showing. The practical effect should be lower battery use, particularly on phones that keep several smart-home widgets active, and reduced load on connected cameras.
The update lands against a backdrop of uneven experience for Gemini for Home users. TechRadar reported in January that some households were still encountering major bugs after the move to Google’s newer assistant platform, and Google’s own support pages continue to advise standard recovery steps such as rebooting speakers or displays, restarting the router and, in some cases, carrying out a factory reset when updates fail.
Ferra also says Google has tightened several Gemini for Home behaviours. The assistant is now meant to ask fewer unnecessary follow-up questions and end conversations more cleanly. In Live Mode, devices are said to be less likely to interrupt themselves. The update also appears to make account switching smoother, while reducing errors such as “Home not found” and the occasional loss of saved settings. Other fixes cover streaming services on smart displays, home-wide message casting, personal playlist playback, device tiles, Wi-Fi pairing for smart devices, Google TV freezes at launch and black camera tiles.
The release follows months of complaints about missing or broken features during the Gemini for Home transition. TechRadar reported in November that Google had faced confusion over the rollout, and by April the company had restored Continued Conversation, a feature many users had missed because it lets them keep talking without repeating the wake phrase after short pauses. More recently, TechRadar said in August that users were still frustrated by unreliable basics such as alarms and automations, suggesting Google’s latest patch is part of a longer effort to make the platform feel stable rather than experimental.
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