Google is killing off its dedicated Google Wifi app for managing its routers, rolling that functionality over to the Google Home app as the company continues to “help our customers control and manage all their connected products in one place and enable routines across them.”
The switchover to the Google Home app will come in two phases: first, Google will disable most of the functionality of the Google Wifi app on May 25th. Starting then, users will only be able to view the current status of their networks — but any changes, including adding new routers or access points — will have to be done in the Google Home app.
Then, sometime in June, Google will remove the Wifi app from the Play Store and iOS App Store, funneling all users to exclusively use the Google Home app. (It’ll also stop supporting the old app at that time for existing users, too.)
Google’s been working on this change since 2019, when it launched the Nest Wifi routers — which could only be configured in the Google Home app. But at the time, the Google Home app still didn’t offer many of the features that the Google Wifi app did. Google had promised that it would support both apps until it had updated the Home app to include all the features offered in the Wifi app, which it says will be the case once June rolls around.
Google points out that migrating existing Wifi setups to the Google Home app will offer some new benefits, including the ability to use Google Assistant for things like pausing the Wi-Fi connection, testing your current internet speed, and (in a neat bit of product synergy) showing a guest Wi-Fi password on a Google Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max display.
Migrating a network setup seems to be a relatively simple process, although Google’s how-to warns it’s a one-way street: once you switch over to the Google Home app, you can’t go back.
Update April 2nd, 4:15pm: Added additional clarification as to which Google Wifi routers are impacted by the sunsetting of the standalone app.
