Latest news with #AnishKattukaran
Android Authority
2 days ago
- Android Authority
Crippling Google Home issues spark potential class action response
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR A US law firm is investigating a possible class action against Google. The class action would be focused on the deteriorating performance of Home and Nest devices. Recently, users have reported that their smart home devices are increasingly misunderstanding commands or failing to respond. It's been rough for Google Home users as of late. A growing number of them have been experiencing issues with their smart home devices, ranging from misheard commands and delayed responses to devices performing the wrong actions or completely ignoring instructions. Although Google has promised that improvements are just around the corner, that may not be enough to prevent a class action that could be on the way. Kaplan Gore LLP, a US law firm, says it has started an investigation into a possible class action lawsuit against Google. According to the agency, it's exploring this potential course of action as a result of Google's failure to 'remedy increasing problems with its Google Home 'smart home' service.' It notes that many users have reported functionality issues, despite those devices previously functioning normally and having a steady internet connection. The firm also mentions that instead of fixing the problem, 'Google is allowing the issues with Google Home to increase in scale and frequency nationwide, and is not providing the service it promised users.' The problems plaguing Google Home In a long Reddit thread that we reported on last week, numerous Google Home users recounted the errors they were running into. '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,' one user wrote. Another spoke about how they can't play white noise in their child's room, as the sound will only play in whatever room they are in. Some users have even reported strange malfunctions, like asking Google to turn off a fan, only for it to turn off the lights. Not long after these comments surfaced, Google acknowledged the problem, stating that it would share an update as soon as possible. Following this acknowledgment, Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest, Anish Kattukaran, issued this statement: Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologize 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 fall. If you're one of the many users who are experiencing issues with Google Home, Kaplan Gore recommends filling out the form on its website. Completing the form will allow you to find out if you have a potential claim. Follow
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Gizmodo
Google Assistant Is Basically on Life Support and Things Just Got Worse
Voice assistants are… not perfect. That's me being nice. But if I were to cease being nice, I'd probably say something more like 'voice assistants suck,' and I think most would agree I'd be justified in saying so. While no voice assistant really manages to escape that criticism, I usually opt for Google Assistant, which—in my experience—is the least sucky. Or it used to be, but after some recent hiccups, I may have to start rethinking that dishonorable distinction. Last week, Google Assistant users reported that the voice assistant was bordering on broken. Those complaints across Reddit and X were so loud, in fact, that Google itself decided to get out there and address them. Here's Google's Director of Product Management, Google Home & Nest, Anish Kattukaran, doing some damage control on X last week. Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologize for what you're experiencing and feeling! — Anish Kattukaran (@AnishKattukaran) July 23, 2025Pretty bad, right? Well, unfortunately, those attempts at getting out ahead of problems appear mostly rhetorical, because things somehow have gotten worse, and now Google Home is at the center of what I would describe as a reputation shitstorm. According to way too many people on Reddit, Google Home is so broken that some people are actually unable to even turn their smart lights on and off properly. And it's not just lights; if Reddit complaints are anything to go off of, it looks like all kinds of smart devices are affected by problems with Google Home, including other speakers and even (disconcertingly) cameras and smart doorbells. While Google has apparently promised to fix the issues, it looks like, for lots of people, they've persisted. A quick scan of the Google Home subreddit reveals that connectivity issues and general issues are still pouring in, with no official announcement from Google. Mileage may vary, but if you're one of the many unlucky Google Home users having issues with third-party devices, you can pull open your Google Home app and navigate to the settings and see if the connecting app is still synced. To do that, go to Settings in the bottom-right corner, then tap 'Works with Google,' and a list of your synced apps should show up. If they're no longer synced, re-sync the app by finding it under 'Add new.' If they're still synced and not working, unsync the app by tapping on the icon and then tap 'Unlink account.' After that, you can try syncing once more and hope that it works. Obviously, having to do any of this is annoying for lots of reasons. For one, people use the Google Home app and smart products on a daily basis to do things like turn their freaking lights on and off. It's also frustrating from a more general standpoint, given Google Assistant's slow erosion over the past few years to the point where some of its core functions have basically broken. To me, this is the clearest indication that voice assistants are in a very bad place, and something needs to be done. That something, if Google, Apple, and Amazon have anything to do with it, will probably be a much-needed dose of AI chatbots like Gemini, but it remains to be seen whether an infusion of a large language model will be enough. The bittersweet news is that it looks like it can't possibly get any worse, though. On the bright side, Apple must feel pretty good about delaying its promised next-gen Siri. Better late than broken, I say.
Tom's Guide
6 days ago
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Google apologizes and promises 'major improvements' in response to Home speaker debacle
Google has acknowledged mounting frustration from customers with some of the best Google Home speakers and promised "major improvements" are coming. The issue seems to stem from Google Assistant — the voice assistant that Google is in the process of killing off to make way for Gemini AI. It seems people using products like the $99 Google Nest Audio are finding the voice functionality disintegrating right now — with the products only sporadically responding to commands. Anish Kattukaran, the Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest, has admitted as such on X and said the company is working on a long term solution. "Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices," he wrote. "I sincerely apologize 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 fall." 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 sometime and will have more to share in the 23, 2025 An apology is always nice to receive, but Kattukaran's response seems a little vague on the details. Only teasing "major improvements" that are coming "in the fall" doesn't exactly help anyone right now. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Users that have spent under $50 on a Google Nest Mini may be willing to look past the dodgy functionality but if you've dropped over $200 on a Google Nest Hub Max, it's harder to swallow. The writing has been on the wall for Google Assistant and Google has been trying to formulate Gemini's eventual takeover for a while now — but the process has been anything but smooth. A year ago, when Gemini first got access to Google Assistant routines, a number of routines didn't carry across. Users also couldn't trigger routines with typed commands, scheduled times, location-based activation, or home screen shortcuts. Actions like playing music, sharing fitness data or reciting poems weren't supported, either. Meanwhile, Google continued to sunset features of the legacy Assistant, which launched back in the dark ages of 2016. In March, it stopped being able to share photos via voice commands, or adjust photo frame settings using your voice. "To continue our work of building the world's most helpful assistant, we've reimagined the experience with AI at its core to make Gemini your personal, AI-powered assistant," the company said in a blog post at the time. "While our expectations for what an assistant can do are rapidly changing, the mission remains the same." Which is all well and good because Gemini is undoubtedly one of the best AI chatbots, but degrading hardware for an unspecified amount of time to make room for it isn't going to engender much faith among customers. If you're a Google Home user and have been experiencing issues with performance, let us know about it in the comments below. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
India Today
6 days ago
- India Today
Google admits Assistant on Home and Nest devices is broken, promises major fixes later this year
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 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 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
Hindustan Times
24-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Is Gemini responsible for Google Home glitches? Google CPO breaks the silence
Google is facing growing backlash from loyal smart home users as its Home and Nest devices continue to suffer widespread reliability issues. What began as scattered complaints on Reddit has turned into a full-blown user revolt. There have been multiple reports of Google Assistant failing to respond, executing the wrong commands or becoming entirely unusable for day-to-day tasks. Google Home users are fed up with broken routines and unresponsive devices.(Unsplash) The problems appear to stretch across both software and hardware. Users describe routines breaking down, speaker groups malfunctioning and smart devices like light bulbs and doorbells losing connectivity through the Google Home app. 'I ask it to turn off a fan, it shuts off all my lights. I ask for the weather, and it gives me updates from a city I don't even live in,' wrote one frustrated user. 'At this point, I'm genuinely wondering if Google is trying to phase out older hardware.' Many point to Google's ongoing transition to Gemini, its next-gen AI assistant platform, as the likely source of the chaos. While not officially confirmed, the timing aligns with a noticeable dip in performance across older Nest Hubs and smart speakers. The issue seems to be affecting core functionality, including voice recognition, room-specific commands and third-party device control. Adding fuel to the fire, a Reddit user reported that 90% of their Smart Life bulbs disconnected from Google Home, alongside failures with their eufy doorbell and Tapo cameras. These problems sparked widespread agreement across the community, suggesting the issue is far from isolated. In response to the mounting criticism, Google has broken its silence. Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest, issued a public apology on X (formerly Twitter), stating: 'Hey everyone, I want to acknowledge the recent feedback about Google Assistant reliability on our home devices. I sincerely apologize for what you're experiencing and feeling!' After weeks of complaints, Google confirms Assistant issues across Home devices(X) The company also acknowledged 'an issue with accessing some devices in the Google Home app' in a statement on Reddit, thanking users for their patience but offering no immediate fixes. The situation has sparked concern among long-time users who feel Google is neglecting its smart home ecosystem in favour of flashy AI upgrades. 'This isn't just about a glitch,' one user wrote. 'This is years of trust breaking down because the basics no longer work.' With Google promising updates later this fall, likely around the rumoured Pixel 10 launch, users are left waiting for a fix that many believe should have arrived months ago. Until then, the smart home dream for many Google users remains frustratingly broken.
