The most recent see update of the Google Home application incorporates another plan for the “Gadget controls” region that is available from the Android lockscreen.
On some Android gadgets today – especially Google’s Pixel telephones, among others – you can get fast admittance to a portion of your shrewd home gadgets through the lockscreen or a speedy settings tile. The “Device controls” feature of Android 11 powers both instances.
In practice, a few smart home devices can be turned on and off, changed in brightness and volume, and more. In the meantime, a flood menu in the upper right corner holds the choice to “Alter controls,” which allows you to pick which brilliant gadgets show up.
Google Home’s Device Controls
Google is working on expanding the Device controls area in Android 14 to give developers more control over how their apps look. Instead of relying on Google’s designs and APIs, an Android app developer can now embed activity into Device controls thanks to the upgrade.
Let’s look at how that app is using this new feature of Android 14 to get a better understanding of what that means for typical Google Home users. The latest pre-release version of the Google Home app, 2.67.25.1-dogfood, is now available to preview program members. In the two images below, you can see a significantly redesigned Device controls area.
The layout of the Favorites tab in the main Google Home app is much the same in the new design. There are shortcuts for your cameras, lights, and Nest Wifi along the top. Under, you’ll track down your ongoing arrangement of top picks or an encouragement to choose a few gadgets and schedules as top choices. The standard “Reorder” and “Edit” buttons for your favorites are also displayed at the bottom.
This early preview shows that almost anything can now be placed in the Device controls area by an application. In practice, this should mean that Tasker and Samsung SmartThings, two apps compatible with Android 14, can embed themselves into the Android 14 lockscreen if they so choose.
Even though Google’s developer documentation indicates that this redesign for Device controls should only function on Android 14, the redesign has also been rolled out to one of our Android 13 QPR3 Beta devices. That being the situation, one chance is that this Gadget controls redo may show up exclusively for Google Home on Pixel gadgets as a component of the June Element Drop and later become accessible to designers as a feature of Android 14.