The Best Google Home Hub Apps

The Google Home app provides a great base for people who own Google Nest products, like the Nest Hub and Nest Audio smart speakers. However, it can’t do everything you may want your smart tech to do.

With the right apps, you can make your Google Nest even smarter. You can play music, adjust your home’s lighting and change the channel with your voice.

These apps are fully compatible with Google Home Hub and significantly extend the functions and features you can get out of your smart home tech. 

1. Pandora, Spotify and YouTube Music

By default, the Google Home app doesn’t really make it easy to play music. This is a shame, because out of the smart speakers on the market, the Google Nest Audio offers some of the best audio quality you can get.

To get the most out of your Google Nest speaker, you will need a compatible music app. 

Most big-name streaming apps are compatible with Google Nest. Once you link one of these apps with Google Home, you’ll be able to use voice commands to control your music — pausing, browsing and switching playlists as you like.

Pandora, Spotify and YouTube Music are three of the best available for use with Google Home. Pandora offers radio-like streaming, Spotify provides access to more than 50 million tracks and YouTube Music will allow you to listen to both licensed music and YouTube videos.

2. Todoist

Todoist, the to do list organizer app, is fully compatible with Google Home. 

With the app connected to your Google Nest devices, you can have your to do list read out loud and move tasks from list to list. You can also use voice commands to add new tasks and mark tasks as complete the second you finish them.

3. Google Assistant

The Google Assistant app provides some extra features that the Home app doesn’t really offer.

For example, by default, you won’t get push notifications on your phone for reminders that you set with a voice command to your Nest. The Google Assistant app lets you receive notification for these reminders directly on your phone. 

The app also makes it easier to send information from your Nest to your phone. The next time you ask your Nest hub or smart speaker a question, you can easily transfer the answer to your phone or a mobile device.

4. Philips Hue

Smart lights are not easy to control with Google Home by default. The Philips Hue app makes it easy to adjust your smart lighting with voice commands. 

With the app, you can turn Philips Hue smart lights on or off, or change their color, room-by-room. 

5. The Nest App (for Certain Google Nest Devices)

Google’s Nest app, somewhat confusingly, won’t help you manage all of your nest devices. The Nest Hub, Nest Mini and Nest Audio are all built to work with the Google Home app, and downloading the Nest app won’t allow you to coordinate or control them.

However, if you pick up some of the other smart devices in Google’s line of smart home products — like the Nest Thermostat, Nest Security Cameras or Nest Hello video doorbell — you will want to pick up the Nest app. With the app, you’ll be able to control these devices with your voice.

Do More With Google Home Devices Using These Apps

These apps will help you get the most out of your Google Nest devices. With the right app, you’ll be able to play music, adjust your home’s lighting and update your to-do list with just your voice