With Google adding more and more device types to Google Assistant’s control repertoire we are seeing a greater range of devices hit the market. But what if you have an old device, like a heater, that you want to make smart with a Smart Plug?
It’s easy enough to set up a smart plug, however Google Assistant’s natural language control won’t recognise it as a heater. For example, with a smart heater you say Hey G turn on all heaters and they would all turn on — that wouldn’t happen for heaters plunged into a smart plug.
Now it will with Google rolling out a new feature, on iOS first (W.T.H. Google), that will let you set a smart plug to an existing Assistant Device type. Now this won’t magically allow the Assistant to change a heaters temperature or change the fan speed. What it will allow is for that smart plug to be recognised as part of a device family.
9to5Google has confirmed that any changes made in iOS are reflected in the Home app on Android — we just hope that Google starts rolling this out on their own devices.
