Fuchsia version 16 rolling out to Nest Hub devices, here’s what’s new

Google has begun rolling out version 16 of its Fuchsia operating system to Nest Hub devices, bringing improvements to Bluetooth, Matter, and Thread.

The trio of Nest Hub devices originally ran on a Linux-based “Cast OS,” but over the course of a few years, Google gradually updated each of them to its in-house Fuchsia operating system. One inadvertent benefit of this change is that, unlike Cast OS, the Fuchsia team publishes patch notes for each of its major updates, offering insight into what’s new.

According to Google’s official support documents, all three Nest Hub models have been updated to Fuchsia version 16. The previous update in November brought version 14, which means this patch brings the improvements of v15 and v16.

While most of the public patch notes pertain to internal changes or improvements to Fuchsia’s developer experience, there are also a few key tweaks that may affect Nest Hub owners.

First up, Fuchsia’s Bluetooth support got some fixes, with Google particularly noting a fix for song information not appearing when playing media from select phones. Somewhat humorously, another Bluetooth patch note mentions an issue with using headphones to connect to a “Duo call,” referring to the company’s video calling service which got confusingly renamed/merged into Google Meet in 2022.

• Fixed issues where some speakers were unable to connect audio.
• Fixed an issue where media information was not showing up when paired with some phones.

• Fixed an issue where some headphones were not showing up in Bluetooth Devices when scanning for devices.
• Fixed additional issues where media info was not showing up when paired with some phones.
• Fixed a volume control issue when using a device as a speaker.
• Fixed an issue where audio was not sent to headphones while connecting a headset during a Duo call.

Meanwhile, Fuchsia version 16 also includes a handful of improvements to the built-in support for the Matter/Thread smart home standards. Most of the changes won’t affect the everyday use of a Nest Hub, but it’s nice to see support for a Matter-equipped air quality sensor.

• Added support for Air Quality Sensor.
• Added support for subscribing to all device fabrics.
• Added support for Matter update group.
• Added transition time handling for commands related to color.

• Rolled out TREL which aims to reduce Thread partition and reduce Thread network usage when possible.

Fans of Fuchsia’s potential outside of the smart home will be interested to know that a significant amount of upgrades are being made to the “Starnix” system, which is being built to allow native Linux applications to run directly on Fuchsia. Of particular note is that Google appears to be working hard at making Starnix, and Fuchsia in general, run on RISC-V hardware. We’ll continue keeping an eye on these efforts over the coming months.

If you want to learn more about this latest Fuchsia update, be sure to check out the full patch notes on the official website.