Google adds an 'app drawer' to the Nest Hub, proving once again that smart displays are just fancy tablets

Quick access to all of your favorite services

Google’s Nest Hubs — and smart displays in general — are perfect for everything from alarms and weather alerts to recipes and streaming entertainment. With Assistant baked right in, requesting specific apps and services with a couple of key voice commands is quick and easy, but it’s tough to beat an actual launcher interface. As part of a new update, Nest Hubs are finally getting a long-awaited app drawer.

We first got a glimpse of these changes back in August, when an early preview appeared online. Over the last two months, a final version arrived for both the 2nd-gen Nest Hub and Hub Max as part of Cast firmware 1.56 (via 9to5Google). If you’re still rocking the original Google Home Hub or a first-gen Nest Hub, you’ll need to keep waiting — those devices are stuck on 1.52 for the time being.

This software update brings along an app launcher, complete with shortcuts for Google services like Calendar, Duo and Meet, YouTube, and Podcasts. Other non-Google apps include Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, and Zoom. To access these shortcuts, just drag your finger up from the bottom of the display. It’s identical to how you open the app drawer on Android.

Just as we saw in the preview version from August, the Hub’s app drawer delivers a handful of quick settings options, suggested shortcuts, and a link to view all services. It’s far more limited than anything you’d see on a fully-fledged mobile device, restricting custom sorting or folders from access. Still, it’s a massive improvement over card suggestions and should make launching apps much faster.

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