[Discussion] Google Home Testing User Control with Custom Access Levels

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Google Home Explores Access Tiers for Smart Home Management

Google Home is on the path to offering a more refined user experience by introducing a new feature that allows for varied control over smart devices within a household. The feature, currently in its testing stage, is designed to offer two distinct access levels — “Admin” for comprehensive control over device and account permissions, and “Member” for those who need constrained access.

Demystifying Admin and Member Access Roles

According to Google, the provision for Admin access is intended, in essence, for those individuals who manage the household alongside you, or so-called "trusted partners." These privileged users can potentially add, remove, or manage other users, link subscriptions to the home account, and oversee device additions or removals. On the other side of the spectrum, Members are only given the liberty to manage rudimentary device functionalities such as viewing live feeds from security cameras and adjusting personal assistant features like voice and face match.

Member Access — Delving into The Settings and Activity Permissions

But Google Home does not stop at that. It further differentiates Member access into two sub-categories. The "Settings" tier empowers members with the ability to control home-wide settings and devices. This extends to handling automation and governing network features of devices such as Nest Wifi. The "Activity" tier, meanwhile, primarily concerns authorizing access to house-wide and device-specific history elements — be it surveillance cameras, locks, or sensors.

Everything You Need to Know About Availing the New Feature

This intriguing feature first unveiled back in November together with the Gemini extension for Google Home, is currently open to those users who participate in the public preview program of Google Home. To add someone as an Admin or a Member, one needs to open the Google Home app's settings, select "Household and access," and tap on the plus icon to send an invitation for the new member. Interestingly, invitees do not have to participate actively in the public preview. However, they must have the latest version of Google Home in order to be added as a new home member within the program.

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