Gemini is making your Google smart home slower, it’s time to try Home Assistant

Published Oct 24, 2026, 8:31 AM EDT Tim has been covering technology for almost 20 years, in that time spanning a broad range of topics from security to product reviews. He is especially focused on the Apple ecosystem, productivity, and consumer advice. Over the years Tim has written thousands of articles, reviews, and round-ups in addition to producing video content and original photography. A graduate of journalism, he found his footing as a freelancer with a laptop and loves how he is able to work from practically anywhere. Now a Senior Editor for iPhone, Mac, and Smart Home at How-To Geek, Tim still loves to write. He can also be found crafting round-ups and productivity posts for the Zapier blog. Earlier in his career Tim spent nearly a decade as a writer and eventually Apple section editor for MakeUseOf. Tim currently lives in Brisbane, Australia. Outside of work he loves to hike and work out, play video games, and spend quality time with his wonderful partner and two cats Inka and Roger. Gemini is Google’s big bet on AI that has made its way into the company’s search, mobile, and smart home offerings. The only issue is that Google doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo that new technologies are supposed to improve the user experience, not make it worse. Google Home users have suffered enough The transition to Gemini was not a smooth one Google Home Speaker with Gemini in berry color.Credit: Google It’s been a rough year for Google Home, and a rough year for anyone who relies on the platform to run their smart home. The extent of my own personal Google Home experience started and ended with a Nest Mini speaker, which I’ve had for the best part of a decade and occasionally whip out to see what’s going on. I’m feeling pretty thankful that I didn’t go all-in on the ecosystem, and have instead watched the implosion from the sidelines. I’ll be honest and say that Google Home was probably never for me. I’m an iPhone user who (ironically) also loves to tinker, so I ended up with Home Assistant running the show while Apple Home looks pretty on top. But I’d happily have recommended Google Home to the Android users and less nerdy people in my life in the past. These days, I’ve completely changed my tune (and it’s not just because Home Assistant is more accessible than ever). Every time I check in on the r/GoogleHome subreddit, things seem to have gone from bad to worse. The problems that started when Google began the process of retiring Google Assistant—which was once the reason to get a Google-branded smart speaker—have snowballed and been left to fester for too long. Now the place is filled with announcements of departure decrying that “the things Google Home used to do well, have become a chore.” Others imply that the downfall of both Google Home and Android Auto is something that should be studied, complaining that “easily a third of my commands have some form of unexpected response.” Google’s decision to replace Assistant with Gemini meant that, overnight, the Google Home platform lost functionality. This isn’t just “nice to have” features, like when Google got rid of those fun interactive trivia games. A lot of it is basic smart home control. As many of us have come to expect from AI in general, a lot of this comes down to the jank that’s inherent to LLMs. Google Home will often respond that it can’t play a song or turn off a device, then execute that command when the user issues a follow-up “yes, you can” affirmation. Google has straight-up ruined its smart home ecosystem for many by shoehorning in an AI assistant that nobody asked for. Why Home Assistant is better You can still have Gemini here, if you want Home Assistant is a free and open-source smart home operating system that runs on local hardware, inside your home. This already makes it more resilient than platforms from the likes of Amazon or Google, since an internet outage or problem with a remote server doesn’t bring your smart home to a grinding halt. One of the many things that Home Assistant gets right is freedom to choose. You can mix and match devices from different manufacturers, hardware that depends on different technologies, and remote services where you want them. This freedom extends to voice assistants, which can be used to control your devices. You can absolutely still use Gemini to run your smart home if you opt for Home Assistant, though be aware that the experience is still going to be problematic, and now you might have to upgrade to a paid plan. Alternatively, you can use ChatGPT or another competing product to do the same. You can even add multiple assistants, trigger them with different wake words, and give them different levels of control, just for fun. But you can also run your own local LLM (where the biggest model isn’t necessarily the best option), locally. The only caveat is that you’ll need to add your own voice-capable smart speakers, like Home Assistant Voice. Alternatively, you can build your own with the $30 ReSpeaker Lite. Bring your Google Home devices with you No need to start from scratch If you’re firmly ensconced in the Google Home platform, you might dread the idea of having to replace all of your smart plugs, bulbs, sensors, and additional devices like speakers. The good news is that most, if not all, of your existing devices should also work with Home Assistant. Device compatibility is a big selling point for Home Assistant, and there are even integrations for Google’s Nest devices (which requires a $5 API access fee on Google’s end). Many of the devices in your smart home might already support a protocol like Matter. Others, from manufacturers like SwitchBot, may already be supported through integrations. The best thing is that it’s free to try and find out, so you can set up a Home Assistant server on a spare laptop, virtual machine, Raspberry Pi, or whatever else you have lying around, and spend an afternoon trying things out. If you make the switch to Home Assistant, you can then start looking at local-first technologies like mesh networks and video doorbells that don’t require cloud connections or subscription fees