Google Meet business hardware will only listen for the hotword within 10 minutes before hybrid meetings

Smart speakers can be incredibly convenient, but even six years after Google released the first Google Home speaker, these devices have the tendency to feel spoken to when you’re not speaking to them. You probably know this issue all too well if you own any smart speaker, even when you don’t say anything remotely similar to “Hey Google” or “Alexa.” Apparently, this issue has annoyed workers with business Google Meet devices in meeting rooms so much that Google saw itself forced to turn off hotword detection for most of the time by default.

In contrast to smart speakers meant for your home, these business machines are focused on making video conferences and that new post-pandemic “hybrid work” model as convenient as possible. They’re supposed to serve as companion devices in meeting rooms, helping workers connect with remote colleagues as seamlessly as possible. However, just like your personal smart speaker, these devices seem to have the tendency to interpret random words as “Hey Google” or “Okay Google.” To avoid these accidental triggers during calls, Google writes that the Assistant “will only be active when a device is not in a meeting and within 10 minutes of an upcoming meeting.” This effectively makes these devices lose Google Assistant support most of the time.

Google further explains the reasoning behind this move, writing, “We know ‘Hey Google’ voice control provides an easy and convenient way to join an upcoming meeting, or to help improve accessibility for users. However, we’ve heard from our customers that due to the increase in teams transitioning to hybrid meetings, the ‘Hey Google’ control can unintentionally be triggered during meetings. We hope this improvement helps reduce any accidental disruptions during your calls.”

Google’s hotword detection can be a big problem during video meetings, especially if you’re in the tech business and talk about the company constantly. Anecdotally, we have someone’s Google Nest trigger at least once during calls in a given week here at Android Police, and that's without ever meeting physically. Since Google hardware doesn’t actually send back audio to Google servers constantly while listening for the hotword, there is only so much on-board computational power these devices can use, leading to many false positives. Getting rid of hotword detection on Meet devices may seem like the nuclear option, but it's probably the most sensible thing to do for the sanity of office workers.

Admins will be able to enable or disable voice control at a device level, and the end user toggle on the devices themselves has been removed to make sure that the hardware is always in the expected state for future use.

Manuel Vonau joined Android Police as a freelancer in 2019 and has worked his way up to become the publication's Google Editor. He focuses on Android, Chrome, and other software Google products — the core of Android Police’s coverage. He is based in Berlin, Germany. Before joining Android Police, Manuel studied Media and Culture studies in Düsseldorf, finishing his university "career" with a master's degree. This background gives him a unique perspective on the ever-evolving world of technology and its implications on society. He isn't shy to dig into technical backgrounds and the nitty-gritty developer details, either. His first steps into the Android world were plagued by issues. After running into connectivity problems with the HTC One S, he quickly switched to a Nexus 4, which he considers his true first Android phone. Since then, he has mostly been faithful to the Google phone lineup, though these days, he is also carrying an iPhone in addition to his Pixel 6. This helps him gain perspective on the mobile industry at large and gives him multiple points of reference in his coverage. Outside of work, Manuel enjoys a good film or TV show, loves to travel, and you will find him roaming one of Berlin's many museums, cafés, cinemas, and restaurants occasionally.