We’ve heard rumors of a Guest Mode on Nest Hub and assistant speakers for some time now, but it had yet to materialize. Today, Google announced that it was, in fact, a real thing and it’s already becoming available. Guest Mode allows other people in your home – be they family members or just friends who are visiting – to use your Assistant without it revealing your personal information to them.
By simply saying “Hey Google, turn on Guest Mode”, you can enable a version of the display that refrains from saving your Assistant interactions to your Google account’s activity. Anyone using the device this way, yourself included, can enjoy things like questions and answers, controlling smart home devices, setting timers, and playing music. However, if anyone asks the Assistant to show them your Calendar events, contacts, and so on, it will refuse.
You can disable this mode by saying “Hey Google, turn off Guest Mode”. Immediately, your full, personalized experience will return. You can also ask “Hey Google, is Guest Mode on?” to check if you’re unsure. I’m probably going to utilize this so that all of my five-year-old’s wacky voice searches for kids’ toys and Pokemon videos don’t begin to transform my Youtube recommendations and such. In time, I’m almost certain that Google will provide a ‘Kid’s Mode’ in addition to Guest Mode as we’ve already seen begin to appear in the form of the new Family Tab.
If you are interested in trying out Guest Mode, it should already be available to you in English. it will be available in more languages over the next few months. I wonder if Google will ever have a situation where they roll out updates universally and simultaneously. What do you think about this new mode for Nest Hubs and Assistant speakers? Let us know in the comments!
