What you need to know
- Google is enhancing its Digital Wellbeing tools for Home and Nest devices to give more users control over smart devices in their households.
- All home members will now be able to adjust Digital Wellbeing filters and Downtime schedules.
- Previously, only the person who set up the device could manage Digital Wellbeing features.
Google is expanding Digital Wellbeing control to every home member on Nest devices.
You might already know about Google Nest’s Digital Wellbeing features, which are designed to help you take charge of your Nest or Home speakers and displays. You get filters for music and videos, and you can even set up timers. And then there’s “Downtime,” which lets you turn off features like “Hey Google” during specific hours.
So, while Digital Wellbeing is usually associated with smartphones, Google provides a nifty set of tools for your Nest Hub displays and speakers too.
There’s a catch, though. Only the person who set up the device could mess with the controls. So, if you’re just a regular home member and desperately need to mess with a filter, tough break if that person is off the grid.
But things are looking up. According to an email seen by Android Police, Google reveals that starting this month, any member of the “Home” can take the reins and control the Digital Wellbeing features for Nest devices.
“In order to improve the ability of home members to control their devices, we are making important changes to Digital Wellbeing,” Google said in the email blast. “Starting this month, any home member will be able to manage Digital Wellbeing Filters and Downtime schedules.”
If you head over to the Google Nest Help page, you’ll notice that Google refers to the group of individuals who can create and manage Digital Wellbeing Filters and Downtime schedules as “Home members.” This means more than one person can play around with the Nest and Home filters.
“These changes mean that you can now share the responsibility of managing these features with other people in your household, and aligns management behavior for Digital Wellbeing with most other device controls,” the search giant adds.