Alternative to Google conversational action after deprecation of conversational action

Question

Google recently announced that Google Conversational action are getting deprecated, and will be removed completely by 13th June 2023.

What are the alternatives to the conversational action available now?

I understand that Google recommends app action over conversational action. As I understand, App action are used to interact with android action, this does not fulfil my requirements.

I want to control my smart home device using voice commands. The required device type is treadmill and required trait is speedControl. I have checked the Google Smart Home action documentation, I could not find any device type and trait that would satisfy my requirements, hence using smart home action is not the option.

What are the alternative options to support the device control for device types and traits not supported by smart home action ?

Answer 1

I would recommend filing a ticket request for a new device type/trait to the Smart Home support team. That will help inform them what device types/traits to prioritize as they continue to build out device compatiblities for the new Matter protocol. Ideally one of these paths would be implemented for you by the time conversational actions are deprecated next June.

Alternatively, you could use custom intents to jump to your treadmill controller mobile app, which can then route the controls to your device. This fulfillment path would not work directly through the Google Home app on Nest devices, but would still enable you to have voice control for your device.