Credit: Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
It’s been a few years since Google took the first steps towards what has now become its most ubiquitous and consistent feature across multiple devices: the smart home panel. What started out as simple controls under the power button on phones running a stock version of Android 11 has morphed into a powerful Android 15 feature that marries Google Home, Pixel and non-Pixel phones, the Pixel Tablet’s dock mode, Wear OS smartwatches, and the Google TV Streamer.
Really? Yes. It’s almost an unbelievable wonder and feat to see so many Google teams working together to carry one feature across devices and ecosystems, but they’ve done it, so let me walk you through what I love most about this smart home panel and how I use it in my everyday life.