Third-Party Devices Gain Gemini Home APIs and Reference Specs

On the final day of Google I/O 2026, Google made its Gemini for Home stack available to third-party hardware manufacturers and service providers. This transitions the platform from a closed ecosystem for Google Nest devices into a full-stack AI offering. Developers can now build smart home hardware utilizing the same core Gemini 3.5 models that power first-party hardware.

Hardware Reference Designs

Google introduced the Google Home Gemini built-in Program, a turnkey solution designed to reduce research and development cycles for external manufacturers. The program provides fully validated reference designs encompassing SOCs, sensors, and microphones. Google designated Amlogic as the primary system integrator, with hardware component support from SEI Robotics and Apical.

The initial rollout includes two primary hardware paths. The Camera Reference Design enables partners to build high-performance security hardware with native computer vision processing. The newly introduced Speaker Reference Design allows third-party manufacturers to build high-fidelity voice command centers capable of handling complex audio inputs.

Expanded API Capabilities

These reference designs route through the newly expanded Home APIs, driven primarily by Gemini 3.5 Flash to maintain low-latency interactions for high-frequency queries. The API expansion unlocks three specific endpoints for device manufacturers.

Camera Intelligence shifts event logging from generic motion alerts to descriptive context, allowing cameras to output specific text strings like “Julie delivered flowers” instead of basic object detection triggers. Ask Home provides a natural language query interface, giving applications the ability to answer complex questions about historical household events. Finally, the Home Brief endpoint synthesizes hours of unstructured sensor and video data into a formatted daily summary of household activity.

Carrier Integration and Subscriptions

Carriers and internet service providers can now bundle these AI capabilities directly into their own applications. AT&T serves as the initial launch partner, routing Gemini features and Nest Cam AI into its Connected Life application and security service.

To monetize the infrastructure costs of continuous video processing, Google introduced the Google Home Premium Subscription, replacing the legacy Nest Aware model. Service providers can bundle the standard tier for approximately $10 per month or $100 per year. An advanced tier is available for $20 per month. These standard capabilities are also bundled for users paying for existing Google AI Pro subscriptions at $20 per month, while the advanced tier is included with the $250 per month Ultra tier.

This release marks a structural shift from basic command-and-response smart homes toward proactive AI agents. While the program standardizes hardware development, it continues Google’s pivot toward an AI-centric strategy, sometimes at the expense of conventional Android updates. For hardware developers, building a custom smart home camera or speaker no longer requires training proprietary vision models or building custom voice synthesis pipelines. You can now rely on standardized reference hardware and Google’s routing infrastructure to handle the core perception layer.