Google is working on fixing a broken Google Home’s main camera feature, Familiar Faces alerts, on Walmart’s budget Onn security cameras. As a refresher, it’s Google’s facial recognition feature that can identify known people instead of simply reporting motion events. While Familiar Faces as a whole is not really perfect, it’s reportedly nonfunctional on Walmart cameras.
Google Home is working to fix broken Familiar Faces alerts on Walmart Onn cameras
Walmart advertises its Google Home-compatible Onn cameras as supporting the feature for Google Home Premium subscribers. However, users started reporting that it has been quietly disabled behind the scenes. Well, it seems the problem was unintentional, at least that’s what Google is suggesting. But it says a solution is on its way.
Responding to user reports, the Mountain View tech giant said that it traced the issue to the cameras’ firmware rather than the Google Home app itself. It says Familiar Faces was “temporarily disabled” while the issue is addressed. As for the fix, the company is apparently validating it at the moment. The fix will be available in the next firmware update, which will be available in the coming weeks.
The update will roll out in the coming weeks.
Well, that’s good news for those who bought the Onn cameras. For what it’s worth, Familiar Faces is quite a handy premium feature. It can, on compatible cameras, recognize people you’ve already identified and send contextually relevant and informative notifications instead of generic motion alerts.
The Walmart Onn camera lineup launched as an affordable alternative to Google’s Nest devices, offering indoor, outdoor, floodlight, and video doorbell models with Google Home integration. Starting at $23, they’re among the cheapest ways to add Google Home-compatible cameras to your smart home setup.
While a fix for the Familiar Faces issue seems on its way, some users still report networking problems. These issues have persisted since launch. Google didn’t say anything about these issues yet.
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