Google provides home-grown APIs

Google announced a set of home APIs and the Home runtime that can be used to access over 600 million devices, Google Hubs and Matter infrastructure, as well as the automation engine.

Matter is an open standard for smart home technology that allows your device to work with any Matter-certified ecosystem using a single protocol. Matter comes from the Connectivity Standards Alliance, an organization that brings together hundreds of companies creating products for the smart home.

The new APIs start with device and framework APIs that can be used to control and manage devices already connected to Google Home, such as Matter bulbs and the Nest Learning thermostat. The announcement said developers can use the APIs to create complex applications to manage any aspect of a smart home, or simply integrate with a smart device to perform a specific task, such as automatically turning on the lights before a food delivery driver arrives.

Highlighting the privacy and security aspects, Google says users are always in control and must explicitly grant access to their smart home structure and devices before an app can access them.

The second addition is the Commissioning API, which can be used to configure Matter devices in the Home app or app, or directly via Fast Pair on Android, without having to create a new Matter structure.

There’s also a new Automation API that you can use to create and manage home automation in the app using the new automation engine and Google Home smart signals. Automations can be triggered by device signals from your home, such as occupancy events from motion sensors, mode changes from devices, or media events from your smart TV. They can also use Google Smart Signals like Home and Away, which combines signals from devices throughout the home to provide more accurate presence detection.

In addition to the new APIs, Google announced plans to improve Google Home hubs. The Google Home Hub is a device that allows remote access and local control of Matter devices via Wi-Fi and Thread. The upgrade will include improved hubs and a new Home runtime that will enable other devices to become hubs, including Chromecast with Google TV, select panel TVs with Google TV running Android 14 or later, and eligible LG TVs.

The API home page will be available in an upcoming preview.

More information

Google Home API Viewer

Case website

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