Google announced this week that its Nest Secure smart alarm system now offers Google Assistant capabilities via its Nest Guard base station.
“Nest Guard is the brains of your Nest Secure,” Google’s Erick Low explains. “It contains a keypad and all the smarts that power the system. It’s usually placed in a spot with lots of traffic (like the front doorway) making it useful as you come and go.”
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Nest Guard is also the hub of any Nest-based security system, and when you buy it from Google, you step through a wizard to configure which other devices you want as part of the package. A basic alarm system consists of the Nest Guard, two Nest Tags, and two Nest Detect sensors, and costs about $400. But the firm also offers various other packages, to cover outdoor scenarios, doorbells, and more, and range extenders, and you can of course purchase individual add-ons and services too.
With Google Assistant support, the Nest Guard now does double-duty as a Google Home device in addition to its normal security functions. So you can interact with the Google Assistant via this device just as you would elsewhere.
Google Assistant support is also an opt-in feature, so if you’re not interested in that functionality for whatever reason, you don’t need to worry about it. Nest Guard’s one on-device microphone is not enabled by default either.