Google Home’s presence sensing is getting smarter in latest test

What you need to know

• Google Home is testing expanded presence detection support for more smart home devices.
• This feature can now take into account media playback statuses on other devices, such as gaming consoles or smart displays.
• You can try this feature today in the public preview of the Google Home app.

Google’s presence sensing features allow you to set up home and outdoor automation for your smart home devices based on your location. By far the most reliable way to use presence detection is to allow each family member to allow geofencing to be shared. The principle of operation is simple: if everyone leaves the house, your on-site automation will work, and vice versa.

There are now several new data points that can be taken into account when detecting presence, as noted 9to5Google. Starting as part Google Home app public preview, occupancy sensor can take into account the state of your smart home devices to determine whether you’re at home or away, according to supporting document.

“You can now use your smart media devices to presence detection“, explains the public preview support document for this feature. “Your media devices may engage in presence detection based on media state, such as when they detect media playing or when you turn them on or off.”

Google says the following types of smart home devices can be used for this presence test:

• Smart speakers and displays
• TVs (including Google streaming devices)
• Game consoles
• Streaming sticks and boxes