Google details Home app ‘Member’ role with limited access, support for children
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Google details Home app ‘Member’ role with limited access, support for children
The Google Home app is adding a new “Member” role to offer access to your home, but with limits on what you can and cannot do. By default, this new role only allows invited users to use devices. Additional permissions can be added, including the ability to see “Activity” including camera history, as well as accessing key settings. For the first time, you can allow your child to use the Home app to help turn on and off lights, control music, and unlock the door when they get home from school. To add a child under the age of 13 to a home, they must be part of your Google family group and they only can join your home as a Member.
Detailed on the Nest Community blog, the Google Home app has now made its “Member” role widely available as a part of the v3.33 update that first debuted earlier this month. The same update also made significant improvements to Nest video history scrubbing.
The “Member” role in Google Home is designed to offer access to your home, but with limits on what you can and cannot do.
Google says:
Advertisement – scroll for more content
With Google Home app 3.33, you can share access to your home safely and efficiently with various family members, roommates, and guests. With the new Member role you can add those you trust, without giving anyone more control than they need.
By default, this new role only allows invited users to use devices. They won’t be able to add new devices, edit existing ones, or make any other tweaks outside of general controls such as on/off or viewing a live feed from a Nest camera.
Additional permissions can be added, including the ability to see “Activity” including camera history, as well as accessing key settings. But, even with those permissions, there are still a lot of functions that these users cannot access at all, as Google details:
Permission Access Level Admin Member Add, manage, and remove people ✔ Delete the home ✔ Add and remove devices ✔ Share devices and data with partner services ✔ Link a subscription to the home ✔ Set up or manage presence sensing for the home or shared devices ✔ Full device control and device settings ✔ Only with Settings access Manage home-wide settings (household automations, home address, Nest Wifi device network and features, Nest Aware and Nest Renew features) ✔ Only with Settings access Use the home’s devices in the Nest app ✔ Check device and home-wide history (camera, lock, Nest Wifi, home presence history) ✔ Only with Activity access Check or manage camera clip-lending for devices in the home ✔ Deletion of any history in the home ✔ Basic device controls (ex. live view of cameras) ✔ ✔ Personal settingsAssistant features like Voice and Face MatchSharing linked media servicesManaging personal presence ✔ ✔
Beyond that, Google says this new “Member” role in the Home app will allow children to be added to a home. Google accounts for those under the age of 13 will be eligible to be added to a home with this role, but only if they’re a part of your family group.
For the first time, you also can allow your child to use the Google Home app to help turn on and off lights, control music, and unlock the door when they get home from school. To add a child under the age of 13 (or the applicable age in your country) to your home, they must be part of your Google family group and they only can join your home as a Member.
More on Google Home:
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram
Google Home makes smart home sharing a breeze
Google Home users can now share smart home access with family and friends. They can grant them either full admin access or customizable Member access. Member access grants limited access to your smart home devices, restricted to basic device controls and Assistant features like Voice and Face Match.Admin access grants the user full control, including adding or removing devices, managing other users, linking subscriptions, and sharing access with others. Google is now allowing sharing Google Home access with children under the age of 13, provided they are part of your Google family group.
Starting with Google Home app v3.33, you can share your smart home with your family and friends. You can grant them either full admin access or customizable Member access, depending on the level of control you want to provide.
Member access grants limited access to your smart home devices, restricted to basic device controls and Assistant features like Voice and Face Match. Such users can also share linked media services and manage personal presence. If needed, you can provide member access users with full device control settings, household automations, Nest Aware, and the ability to check device and camera footage history. By default, Settings and Activity access are turned off for all new members, and you must manually enable them if needed.
Admin access has no such restriction. It grants the user full control over your smart home, including adding or removing devices, managing other users, linking subscriptions, and sharing access with others. They also gain full access to your home devices in the Nest app, including cameras, lock, and Nest Wifi.
Google shared a table in its announcement on the Nest community forum highlighting the difference between the two access levels.
Source: Google
The new two-tier permission system is ideal for providing complete smart home access to your spouse or close ones, while member access is perfect for offering limited access to other household members. The latter is also a useful addition if you want to provide a house guest with access to your smart home.
Share Google Home access with children
Additionally, Google is now allowing sharing Google Home access with children under the age of 13, provided they are a part of your Google family group. However, they can only receive Member access — admin access is not possible.
You can find the new sharing settings in Google Home under Settings → Household & access → Add → Home member.
Source: https://9to5google.com/2025/07/02/google-home-member-role-invite/