Google has finally clarified where it stands on maintaining support for its family of Google Nest products, and has committed to roll out updates for its devices "for at least five years" after their launch. It's also made it clear just which gadgets in its ever-changing lineup fall under this umbrella, after confusion around the branding muddied the waters somewhat.
The news comes via a Google Nest security and privacy-related blog post. In it, Google says that it'll provide automatic software security updates that "address critical issues" of Nest devices for a minimum of five years after their launch date. So you might want to check the list of Google Nest devices, now that the company has listed them on its support page, to see if yours are on the brink of the support period.
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Sifting through the list, you'll notice that some products are getting very close to the end of the guaranteed support time period; the Google Home smart speaker for example is coming up on five years at the end of the year. The clock on the compact Google Home Mini and discontinued Google Home Max is also ticking away, as Ars Technica points out, with their support window closing at the tail end of next year, unless Google opts to continue implementing updates for them.
The limited support window certainly isn't exclusive to Google, but with the company stepping out of home security, it's not going to great news for customers who have kitted out their houses with Google's devices.
Don't let that stop you from checking out the best Google Nest deals available right now – but just be mindful that updates could stop five years after the product's debut date.
