Control Any Smart Home Device via Google Home with Homey
Not all smart home devices work with Google Home directly. Many devices use different protocols, apps, or standards, and some don’t support Google Home at all.
To control any supported smart home device using Google Home, you need a smart home hub that can connect to those devices and make them available to Google’s platform.
Homey acts as that bridge, exposing devices to Google Home, regardless of the underlying technology.
Homey stays in control of the devices. Google Home becomes an additional way to control them.
What “any smart home device” means
With Homey, “any smart home device” can include devices using:
As long as Homey supports the device, it can usually be exposed to Google Home.
What you need
To control smart home devices via Google Home, you need:
- A Homey Pro or a Homey Bridge, in combination with Homey Pro mini, Homey Cloud or Homey Self-Hosted Server - depending on the required connectivity.
- One or more devices paired with Homey
- A Google account and the Google Home app
All devices must be added to Homey first, before they are added to Google Home.
What “exposing devices” means
When Homey exposes a device to Google Home, it means Homey shares that device with Google Home.
The device:
- stays paired with Homey
- is still controlled by Homey
- becomes visible in Google Home
Google Home does not communicate with devices directly. Commands from Google Home are routed through the Homey integration, and Homey then controls the devices.
A simple way to think about it is that Homey translates many different device technologies into a single interface Google Home understands.
How to expose devices to Google Home with Homey
Exposing devices to Google Home starts in the Google Home app. You don’t need to re-pair your devices or change how they’re connected.
The process works like this:
- Pair Zigbee devices with Homey
Make sure the Zigbee devices you want to use are already added to Homey and working correctly. - Link Homey in the Google Home app
Open the Google Home app, go to add/setup, choose Link a service, then Works with Google, select Homey, and allow Google to access your Homey account. - Sync devices to Google Home
After linking, Google Home imports your Homey devices automatically. - Exclude devices you don’t want to show in Google Home
In the Homey app, you can choose which devices should not be exposed to Google Home. Any excluded device won’t appear (or will be removed after the next sync).
After this, your Homey Zigbee devices are available in Google Home without additional pairing steps.
How the connection works
Behind the scenes, the setup works in three steps:
- Devices connect to Homey
Homey communicates with devices using their native technology. - Google Home connects to Homey
Google Home talks to Homey, not to the devices themselves. - Homey forwards commands
When you control a device in Google Home, Homey translates the command and sends it to the device.
What you can do in Google Home
Once exposed, devices usually appear in Google Home as standard smart home devices, depending on their capabilities.
You can:
- Control devices in the Google Home app
- Use Google Assistant voice commands
- Assign devices to rooms
- Include them in Google Home routines
What to keep in mind
A few important points:
- Not all device features are available in Google Home
- Action-based devices may not report their current state
- Advanced automation and logic stay in Homey
- Removing a device from Homey also removes it from Google Home
Use Google Home for control and voice and Homey for automation and device logic.
In short
Google Home doesn’t need to support every device type.
Homey connects your smart home devices and exposes them to Google Home in a consistent way, regardless of how they communicate underneath.
Google Home becomes a simple, unified way to interact with your entire smart home and Homey stays in control.
Discover more about Homey by connecting additional devices through the Homey App Store. Control them with the Homey App and create your own automations with Flows and Advanced Flows. Monitor your smart home using Dashboards, and gain deeper understanding with Homey Energy and Insights.
Smart home technologies and platforms supported by Homey
Smart homes often use multiple wireless technologies and platforms. As a powerful smart home hub, Homey supports a wide range of communication standards, including Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, Thread, KNX, 433 MHz, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Infrared.
Homey also integrates with popular smart home platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple Home. By combining multiple technologies and platforms in one system, Homey allows devices from different ecosystems to work together in one flexible smart home setup.
