How to Set Up Your Google Nest Smart Hubs as a Family Intercom
Google’s smart hubs, like the Google Nest Mini and Google Nest Hub, are useful for controlling your smart home. But did you know that you can also use them for communicating in your house?
Here is how to set up and use your Google smart hubs as your home’s intercom system.
What You Need
If you want to set up a family intercom, you must have at least two Google smart hubs—these could be Google Nest Minis, Google Nest Audios, Google Nest Hubs, Google Nest Hub Maxes, or any combination of those.
Aside from intercom use, these smart speakers are also great for controlling your smart home. So, if you can’t decide which device you should get, we can help you with that bycomparing all four Google smart hub devices.
Aside from these, you need the Google Home app and a Google account for theinitial setup of your Google Nest device. Remember to place your Nest device in the proper room during setup to avoid issues later.
Setting Up Your Google Smart Hubs
After setting up your first Google Nest device, set up your second device in the room where you want to place it. Once the device is powered, set it up in the Google Home app forAndroidoriOS. Here’s how to do so:
Following this:
On the next screen:
Once this setup is complete, you may now broadcast general messages throughout your home.
Communicating Via the Broadcast Command
If you have more than two Google Nest devices, you may simultaneously broadcast to all your devices. Alternatively, you can broadcast to a Google Nest in a specific room. Here’s how to do so.
Google will then send your message to all the Google Nest devices in your home. If you want to send a message to a specific room, say, the kitchen, say “OK, Google, broadcast to the kitchen,” or “Hey Google, broadcast to the kitchen” instead.
Calling From One Google Smart Hub to Another
The broadcast function helps send one or two short messages to everyone or for looking for family members. However, it’s not easy to use if you want to converse with someone in another room.
If you want to call someone from another room, you mustenable audio or video calls with your Google Nest speakers. After setting it up, you must also ensure that all your Google Nest devices are allowed to make calls.
After doing this, you can now start making audio calls to your other Google Nest speakers.
With that, you can now use your Google Nest devices to talk with other family members no matter where they are in your house, as long as they’re in the range of a Google Nest hub.
Call a Family Member From Your Google Smart Hub
If your family members are at home, you can easily call them via your Google Nest hubs. However, you can also use the Google Nest Hub to call any family member wherever they are, as long as they have a Google Duo account.
To do so, your family member must firstsign up for and set up a Google Duo account. Once they already have a Google Duo account, you should also add them as your household contact.
Go to theGoogle Home appand tapSettings. TapCommunicationand then tapYour contacts.
With that, you may now make calls to any member of your household with the Google Nest speaker—whether they’re at home or away.
Google Nest Makes Family Communication Easier
The Google Nest speakers and hubs are excellent for controlling your smart home. However, it goes beyond that—you can use it to communicate with each other, helping to bring your family closer.
After you set this up, you no longer need to scream your lungs out just to find someone in your house. Just use Google to broadcast a message; they can respond right back by calling you from the Google Nest device in their room.
Can’t decide between the Google Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max? We’re taking a closer look at both speakers.
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