Google rolls back update that gave people free access to a Nest Aware perk
If you own a Google Home, you have noticed it doing something it hadn’t done before. Toward the start of August, Google erroneously rolled out an update to its smart speakers that gave some people free access to a perk that comes with its Nest Aware subscription. The specific feature notifies you when your Home or Nest device hears glass breaking or a smoke alarm going off.
Since the feature came online without explanation from Google, it led some to believe that their smart speaker was listening for everyday sounds and invading their privacy. The error should now be resolved, however.
“We are aware of an issue that inadvertently enabled sound detection alerts for sounds like smoke alarms or glass breaking on speakers that are not part of a Nest Aware subscription,” a Google spokesperson told Android Police. “We have since rolled out a fix that will automatically disable sound detection on devices that are not part of Nest Aware.” According to the company, the error affected a portion of its Home, Home Mini and Home Max speakers.
If all of this is new to you, look at it this way: you got to try a paid feature without evening know about it.
(15)