Google Fuchsia is rolling out to first-gen Nest Hubs right now, but that doesn’t mean much yet

Google has been working to develop its not-so-secret operating system, Fuchsia, for many years, and only recently made it publicly visible by inviting developers to contribute to the project. It even opened a Discord server for fans and creators alike to discuss it daily. After having rolled out to a few first-generation Nest Hubs months ago and replacing the inbuilt Cast OS, Fuchsia is now appearing on many more original Hubs as firmware version 1.52.260996, according to 9to5Google who confirmed with Google directly.

If you’d like to check your Nest Hub’s firmware version for Fuchsia for yourself, just swipe up from the bottom of the display and tap the Settings cogwheel icon. Then, tap ‘About device’. From there, you’ll find your software version and Cast firmware Version. Upon scrolling to the bottom of the page, you can see the ‘Operating System Version’. If there is one listed, and more specifically, if it says 1.52 as above, you’re running Fuchsia already!

According to 9to5Google, the Fuchsia update does bring smaller performance improvements, but nothing more. I’m honestly just super impressed that Google has been able to swap out a full operating system for a non-Linux one built from scratch right under our noses. Basically, the company had to build it out to look and feel just like Cast OS first, but with this new approach, it will clearly be able to take it leagues beyond what’s been possible to date.

It should only take a few days to roll out to all Hubs, but despite this, it really doesn’t mean much yet. No one truly knows Google’s plans for the new OS yet, but one day, perhaps, Fuchsia on Nest will look and act drastically different than it currently does. Aside from the new application launcher that appeared on Reddit earlier this week, it’s practically identical. Let us know in the comments if you’ve already received the update and joined the Fuchsia family!