Google updates the Nest Hub (2nd Gen) with new sleep tracking features

What you need to know

• Google is updating its second-gen Nest Hub with more sleep tracking features.
• The Nest Hub can now detect your sleep stages and show you how long you were in each stage.
• Users can now set a detection area so that their sounds aren't confused with others.
• Nest Hub owners will soon have access to Calm meditation content.

The Soli-powered Nest Hub (2nd Gen) is getting some love with a new update that enhances its sleep detection features to make it more useful and allow users to get more insights into their sleep patterns and behaviors.

With the new update, Google gives users a better look into how they sleep by enabling sleep stage detection. This is a feature found on many of the best Android smartwatches and determines when the user is in light, deep, or REM sleep, and even determines periods when the user is awake.

Google says that using this in tandem with other sleep information can "help you better understand what's happening while you're sleeping."

Additionally, Google is making it easier to get more accurate information about potential sleep disturbances. Nest Hub owners will be able to calibrate a designated sleeping area for the display to detect sounds. This way, it can more accurately tell you which noises like coughing and snoring are coming from you, while "Other sounds" outside the area from your partner or pet will be designated as such.

Lastly, Nest Hub owners will soon have access to meditation content from Calm. While the device can already play relaxing sounds to help users sleep, this will add several tracks from the app or the full library for Calm Premium subscribers.

To get started, users can say, "Hey Google, show me meditations from Calm," or "Hey Google, start a meditation."

These new features will be available starting today and will roll out globally over the next few weeks.

Google notes that its Sleep Sensing feature for the Nest Hub (2nd Gen) will remain a free preview throughout 2022 and will roll into the Fitbit Premium subscription sometime in 2023.