Google Home API preview opens, giving app devs the keys to your smart home

Smart home devices have penetrated the mainstream, and whether you’ve just got a doorbell cam, or you’ve converted your entire house to smart lighting, more and more of us are embracing this kind of tech all the time. But for all the smart hardware we have access to, and all the apps we use to control them, that dream of an entire home’s worth of devices all harmoniously working in concert can still feel just out of reach. Luckily, companies like Google have been working for a while on cracking this problem, and today we’re learning about the latest steps Google Home is taking in pursuit of that goal.

Back at Google I/O last spring, we learned about plans to launch a Home API, which would make it easy for apps to tap into your smart home devices, accessing their sensors and data, and being able to control them. Much like the Home app itself allows you to interact with disparate hardware types across manufacturers, third-party apps using Home APIs could pull off the same sort of trick, empowering them to develop new automations and embrace whole-home control in a way not previously possible in Google’s ecosystem.

Initially, Google made that API available to only a few select partners for early testing. Companies like Nanoleaf, ADT, and LG have been part of that initial effort, and now this week at CES 2025 Google shares that it’s opening the Home API to public preview.

That means that developers everywhere can start building apps that tap into this powerful new tool for controlling smart homes, testing their apps with up to 100 users. That limit should lift at some point later this year, when the Home API leaves preview entirely and enters general public availability.

In addition to this news about developer access to the API, Google shares some updates on other recent steps it’s been taking to make our smart homes even better. Thread is an increasingly important protocol for local device control, and smart homes need Thread border routers to communicate with devices using it. Google’s been working with MediaTek on a chip that combines support for Thread, Bluetooth LE, and Wi-Fi all in one package, for easy integration into new hardware and helping to spread access to Thread.

Google’s also working with Apple and Samsung to further development of Matter, and maybe the biggest news here concerns a new shared approach to device certification. The Connectivity Standards Alliance is simplifying how Matter devices get their “Works With” seals of approval, and Google will soon start accepting these results for its “Works With Google Home” program. That should help us get to a place where you don’t just have a whole lot more options when it comes to shopping for smart home devices, but you also enjoy more faith knowing what’s compatible with your system.