Best Tools for Google Home: Devices, Apps, and Tricks for a Smarter Setup

Google Home (now mostly branded under the Google Nest umbrella) has matured into a genuinely capable smart home platform. If you're invested in the Google ecosystem or you just want an assistant that can actually answer your questions, building a smart home around Google Home makes a lot of sense.

Here's what's worth pairing with your Google Home setup for the best experience.

Choosing the Right Nest Speaker or Display

Google's hardware lineup has gotten simpler. The Nest Mini is great for voice control in smaller rooms. The Nest Audio is better for music with its fuller sound. And the Nest Hub (with or without camera) gives you a visual dashboard for your smart home, recipes, photo frames, and video calls.

The Nest Hub Max doubles as a Nest camera, which is a clever space saver in the kitchen or living room. For whole-home coverage, placing a mix of Minis and Hubs in different rooms gives you voice access everywhere without overspending.

Google Home App (The Revamped Version)

Google overhauled the Home app, and it's a significant improvement over the old version. The new app puts your devices, automations, and camera feeds in one place with a much cleaner interface.

The Favorites tab lets you pin the devices and actions you use most. The automation editor is more capable now, supporting conditions and multi-step routines that used to require workarounds. Spend some time organizing your devices into rooms and setting up household routines since it pays off quickly.

Smart Lights (The Foundation of Any Setup)

Philips Hue remains the premium choice with deep Google Home integration, reliable performance, and an absurd number of bulb types and accessories. But they're expensive.

LIFX bulbs are a solid alternative that don't need a hub. Wyze bulbs and Govee strips offer budget-friendly color lighting that works well with Google Assistant. TP-Link Tapo and Kasa also have good Google integration at reasonable prices.

Whatever you pick, make sure to set up rooms in the Google Home app so you can say "Hey Google, turn off the bedroom lights" instead of naming every bulb individually.

Chromecast and Google TV

Chromecast with Google TV ties your entertainment into the smart home. Voice-control your TV, cast content from your phone, and tie it into routines. A "movie time" routine that dims lights, closes blinds, and turns on the TV to your streaming app of choice is the kind of thing that makes a smart home feel smart.

The newer Chromecast with Google TV also serves as a Matter hub, adding smart home connectivity beyond just entertainment.

Nest Thermostats

The Nest Learning Thermostat is one of the best-known smart home products for a reason. It learns your schedule, adjusts itself, and integrates perfectly with Google Home. The Nest Thermostat (the budget-friendly version) is also solid and gives you app control, scheduling, and energy-saving features without the learning algorithms.

Both show up in the Google Home app and can be included in routines and automation.

Google Home Routines

Routines are where Google Home really starts earning its keep. You can set up morning, bedtime, leaving, and arriving routines that trigger multiple actions at once. Beyond the presets, custom routines let you build automations triggered by voice commands, time of day, or sunrise/sunset.

A simple but effective setup: a "Good night" routine that locks the doors, turns off all lights, sets the thermostat to sleep temperature, and enables do-not-disturb on your Nest displays.

Nest Cameras and Doorbells

The Nest Doorbell (battery or wired) and Nest Cam lineup integrate directly with Google Home. You get live feeds on your Nest Hub displays, motion alerts with facial recognition (Nest Aware subscription), and the ability to talk to whoever's at the door from any room.

The newer Nest cameras support on-device processing for person, animal, and vehicle detection even without a subscription, which is a nice touch.

Matter and Thread

Google was an early backer of Matter and Thread, and Nest devices are among the most Matter-compatible on the market. The Nest Hub (2nd gen), Nest Hub Max, and newer Nest speakers act as Thread border routers, making your network of Thread-enabled devices more reliable.

When shopping for new devices, prioritizing Matter support means those devices will work with Google Home today and probably whatever platform you might switch to in the future.

Compatible Locks, Sensors, and More

Smart locks like the Yale Assure 2 and August WiFi Smart Lock work well with Google Home. Combine them with routines for hands-free locking when you leave. Aqara sensors (motion, door/window, temperature) are affordable and work through Matter or their own hub with Google integration.

Garage door openers from Meross and Chamberlain/myQ bring another piece of the house into your Google Home dashboard.

Third-Party Integration and Advanced Tools

If you want to push Google Home further, Home Assistant can bridge the gap for devices that don't have native Google support. The Google Home integration in Home Assistant lets you expose any HA entity to Google, meaning even your obscure Zigbee sensors can respond to voice commands.

For developers, the Google Home Developer Console and the Local Home SDK allow building custom integrations and local control for faster response times.

Wrapping Up

Google Home's strength is how naturally it fits into the Google services most people already use. Calendar events trigger automations. Google Photos fill your Nest Hub screen. Casting music or video is effortless.

Build your setup around the routines you actually need, invest in reliable devices that support Matter, and let the system handle the repetitive stuff. A good smart home shouldn't feel like a science project. It should just work.