Forget Gemini, Google Home users just want the basics to work again

We’re constantly monitoring the Google Home Reddit community to track user experiences — from the features people love to the problems they encounter. But for most of this year, the subreddit has been dominated by complaints, with users expressing frustration that their once-reliable Home devices now struggle to perform even the most basic tasks.

The Google Home ecosystem — which spans smart speakers, displays, cameras, thermostats, nd more — once set the benchmark for seamless voice control. However, it’s been over a year since that experience started deteriorating for users.

We first reported about these issues in July, when complaints about glitches across the Google Home ecosystem reached an all-time high. Users flocked to Reddit to share their frustration over a sharp drop in reliability, with devices frequently misunderstanding commands, failing to respond, or struggling with tasks they once performed effortlessly.

Google quickly acknowledged the situation, and Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Nest, Anish Kattukaran, promised a fall update to resolve the problems. However, instead of restoring the basics, the company rolled out the major Gemini for Home update, layering new AI features over long-standing issues that continue to frustrate the community.

While the “Gemini-fication” of Google Home has only just begun, and we expect the AI to take some time to find its footing, users are once again detailing their struggles to perform the most basic tasks on their devices.

In a last-ditch effort to get Google’s attention, a long-time Google Home user started a Reddit thread explaining how they’re on the verge of giving up on the carefully built smart home ecosystem they’ve maintained for years. Many others quickly joined in to share similar experiences.

“I’m done. Over the past two years or so, I have been fighting with these devices, trying as if my life depended on it, to get that experience back. I think today is my breaking point,” the user wrote, in what is a long post about how their Google Home speakers and other devices that once worked flawlessly have become unusable.

“Hey Google, play my playlist UniqueFamilyName Bedtime on boys’ rooms,” I say the same thing every night, it’s Russian roulette, which playlist I’ll get. I often have to repeat the command 6 times before it actually picks mine. I’ve set up a task so it’s typed out exactly right, and that doesn’t do any better,” wrote another user.

“I’m a skilled computer tinkerer. I’ve been messing with obscure computer settings for decades. Google Home now just feels like I’m fighting a brick wall,” another user noted.

The thread, and others like it, continue in the same vein, with dozens of comments describing similar frustrations, from devices failing to execute simple voice commands to playing the wrong music, adding items to the wrong shopping list, or scheduling alarms in incorrect rooms.

Google Home users are now starting to get a taste of Gemini for Home. The AI assistant will fully replace the Google Assistant, and while this transition may be the very reason Google Home devices have become unreliable over the past year or so, the update certainly sounds promising.

Early users have positive things to say about Gemini’s ability to have continued conversations and understand context, but as far as performing simple tasks reliably is concerned, even Gemini is unable to resolve the ongoing issues, or so it seems from the reports we’re seeing.

“I don’t want a gimmick, I want to turn my lights on and off,” a user wrote in a Reddit thread giving feedback about Gemini for Home.

“These aren’t beta problems. They are ongoing problems that have not been fixed for months and months. And the rush to shove Gemini into every device is absolute ridiculousness. Gemini is not a Home Assistant, and Google should not be forcing it on people until it actually is an upgrade,” said another user.

“People want a return to the old assistant BEFORE GOOGLE DEGRADED IT. Not the Google Assistant of the past year,” a comment stated, very aptly describing what a lot of Google Home users have been saying for a long time.

Despite Google’s apologies and AI ambitions, the company’s most loyal users seem to be losing patience. Gemini might eventually redefine what Google Home can do, especially on newer devices, but for now, users just want the basics back — a smart home that listens, responds, and works as reliably as it once did. Until then, the mood across the Google Home subreddit remains one of frustration rather than excitement for the platform’s new digs.