Google Home Gets ‘Live Search,’ Letting Gemini Analyze Your Cameras Live

Your smart home is finally starting to see the world the way you do. 

Google is rolling out a major update to its Home ecosystem, headlined by a feature called Live Search that lets Gemini AI analyze your camera feeds in real time. Instead of scrolling through grainy clips of things that already happened, you can now treat your cameras like a visual search engine.

The standout addition, confirmed by Anish Kattukaran, chief product officer for Gemini for Home, allows users to ask about their property’s current state.

“For our Google Home Premium advanced subscribers, we are introducing ‘Live Search’ for your cameras (vs. just asking about things that have already happened),” Kattukaran shared on X. “You can now ask Gemini to understand the current state of your home. e.g., ‘Hey Google, is there a car in the driveway?'”

While standard smart cameras usually wait for a trigger, such as a person or a package, Live Search is conversational. You can proactively ask the AI to check if the dog is in the yard or if a delivery has arrived, and it will process the live video feed to give you an immediate answer.

The cost of proactive intelligence

This jump in intelligence isn’t free. Live Search is tucked behind the Google Home Premium Advanced tier, which costs $20 per month (or $200 annually).

This puts Google’s service at a significantly higher price point than basic cloud storage plans from competitors. Google is betting that customers will pay a premium for “ambient AI,” a system that doesn’t just record video but actually understands the physical environment.

Expanding the ecosystem: Locks and mesh

Beyond the AI eyes, Google is graduating several long-awaited features from “Public Preview” to “General Availability.”

• Nest x Yale Lock: Users can now manage guest passcodes, settings, and history directly within the Google Home app without needing a bridge.
• Nest Wifi Pro: A March 2026 update is rolling out to improve mesh performance, stability, and security for the brand’s flagship routers.
• New Automation Starters: The app is adding highly requested triggers for routines, such as “When the security system is armed” or “If the Pixel Tablet is not docked by 9 pm.”

Polishing the experience

Kattukaran noted that the team has been using feedback from the Early Access phase to push regular voice improvements. This includes technical quality-of-life fixes, such as reducing instances where Gemini accidentally cuts users off while they are speaking and ensuring it plays newly released music more reliably.

“Our goal is for your automations to run reliably,” Kattukaran said, urging users to use the app’s feedback tool to report any glitches.

Also read: Ring rolls out AI-powered security tools and hub-free sensors as it expands its smart home security lineup.

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