The Nest Secure alarm system finally works alongside Google Assistant

You may have assumed that the Nest Secure, the smart alarm system from Nest, would come ready to work with Google Assistant right out of the box. That would certainly make sense — after all, Nest is a Google-owned company (the company was acquired in 2014 for $3.2 billion), and Assistant seems to be integrated into just about every other Google product. But surprisingly enough, up until Wednesday, April 4, if you wanted to control your Nest alarm with your voice .. .you couldn’t. It was a strange oversight, especially considering that other product in the Nest family, like its flagship learning thermostat and even its security camera and video doorbell. But now, Nest Secure is finally catching up to its siblings thanks to a new compatibility with Google Assistant.

With this latest integration, Nest Secure alarm system owners will be able to talk to Google Assistant in order to check up on the status of their home — at least, from a security standpoint. Particularly useful is the ability to arm the system from afar (and without using your hands). You can also toggle among the various modes within the alarm system. For example, you can say, “Hey Google, set Nest Secure to Home and Guarding.” You can also disarm the system by saying, “Hey Google, cancel security.” Be warned though, that ability comes with a rather large caveat — you must cancel the security within a few seconds of arming it, and you can only disarm it with a voice command if you armed it with a voice command.

We should also point out that you won’t be able to leverage the voice command functionality if you have configured your Nest Secure to arm exclusively with a PIN. So when you’re setting up your alarm to work anew with Google Assistant, be sure to change your settings as well. The functionality ought to be live for anyone with a Nest Secure as well as a Google Home or other Assistant-enabled speaker. If you want to use Assistant on your phone to arm your alarm, that should work as well. For more information on how best to take advantage of this new function, visit the Nest help page.