Google's flagship smart home display, the Nest Hub Max, offers a useful feature that lets you extend the effective range of a few other Nest products. However, Google will drop support for this feature with an upcoming update for the smart display.

According to 9to5Google, Google has started testing a new software update for the Nest Hub Max. The update (firmware version 7.20220419.2.164) preps the smart home display for Matter device support and removes its bridge/extended capabilities. Following the update, users will no longer be able to use the Nest Hub Max to extend the range of devices like the Nest Detect and Nest x Yale smart lock.

In case you use your Nest Hub Max as a bridge/extender for other Nest devices, Google recommends repositioning your connected devices to keep them connected after the update rolls out. If that's not a viable solution for your household, however, Google is offering some users a free Nest Connect to extend the effective range.

9to5Google further notes that while the update preps the Nest Hub Max for Matter device support, it may not actually make Matter devices available on your Google Home network. That should arrive sometime later this year, alongside Matter device support on Android devices.

In related news, Google recently rolled out Matter device controls for some Android users. The controls appear within a new Matter devices & services section in the Devices & sharing Google account settings and let you connect a new device, provide a toggle to show notifications when an unpaired Matter device is available nearby, and offer a list of linked Matter devices. These controls aren't available widely at the moment, but we expect a wider rollout in the coming weeks.

Are you looking forward to Matter device support on Android and Nest smart home devices? Let us know in the comments section below.


Via: 9to5Google