Google Home app adds ‘Voice assistant experiments’ setting for Gemini

We didn’t get a real update about Gemini on smart speakers and display at I/O 2025 last week, but Google Home recently added a new “Voice assistant experiments” setting for it.

Since testing got underway in December, those enrolled in the Google Home Public Preview with Nest Aware just had to enable “Experimental AI features” to “Google Assistant with help from Gemini.” That’s accessed by tapping the lab beaker icon in the top-right corner of the app.

Under the Settings tab in the Google Home app, there is a new “Voice assistant experiments” menu between Google Assistant and Presence Sensing. We’re only seeing it on Android and not iOS.

This lets you “Choose how people can access Assistant Experiments on all eligible devices in this home.” There’s a high-level setting to “Enable Assistant experiments in this home.” If enabled, your options are:

Require Voice Match: Only adults who have set up Voice Match will have access

Everyone: Everyone, including guests and people who haven’t set up Voice Match, will have access

At The Android Show: I/O Edition, Google said that the Gemini experience coming to Google TV would no longer be branded with Google Assistant.

As of this testing phase on the Nest Audio and Mini, Google still refers to the Gemini model-powered upgrade as the Assistant. We’ll see if that changes at launch.

The only mention to this I/O was in a blog post about the new Home Summary Widget for Pixel. Google said it “previewed Gemini enhancing the voice experience on smart speakers, smart displays, and Google TV, enabling more natural interaction, deeper exploration of topics, device control, and even voice-based automation creation.” Google has yet to expand testing to the Nest Hub.

Related: Gemini colors come to Nest Audio testing ‘Google Assistant’ upgrade