Google’s ecosystem of smart home products hasn’t been without its issues. Recently, we’ve encountered reports highlighting Google Home’s inability to respond to basic commands, in addition to several other functionality-related complaints. While the company is currently in damage control mode and fixing some of these shortcomings, it is also finding the time to roll out a design change that was first announced last November: redesigned media controls.
In its current form, the Google Home app’s media controls for smart speakers, Google/Android TV devices, and smart displays, such as the Nest Hub, include an outdated circular media control slider. Last year, Google announced the arrival of “refreshed media controls” for the Google TV app, promising “an easy-to-use interface, and faster performance,” on par with Material 3 guidelines.
It has taken a while, but the redesigned media controls are rolling out with version 3.37 of the Google Home app, per the folks at 9to5Google. The site reports seeing the updated controls on the Public Preview version of Google Home, though I’m not seeing them just yet, suggesting it’s part of a slow rollout.
Not the same redesign Google teased last year
Existing Google Home media controls (left); The design teased in November 2024 (middle); The media controls rolling out now (right)
Interestingly, the design Google teased last year appears to be different from the one that has been rolled out. The album artwork revealed by Google last year is absent, with the app only showing a blank, albeit massive, media player.
9to5 notes that it is identical to the media player that appears within a Pixel phone’s notification shade. This media player contains a standard timeline scrubber at the bottom, accompanied by the previous and next buttons on either side.
There’s a pause/play button as you would expect, while the app used to play the content is also denoted with a logo in the upper left corner of the player. Below this media player is a horizontal volume slider, while Google TV users will also find an “Open remote” button in the list.
Next, you’ll find the “Stop casting” button, followed by a shortcut to open the app in operation. Meanwhile, Nest Hub Max users will see a “View Nest Cam” button in the list, as 9to5Google points out.
Although the media controls update isn’t live on my Google Home app, Android Police tipster Armando has caught a glimpse of it. In addition to the changes we discussed above, Armando also noticed that the account switcher menu can now be opened with a simple swipe left gesture, thereby saving users the trouble of manually tapping the profile icon.
Are you seeing the updated media controls in the Google Home app? Let us know below.
Thanks: Armando
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