Manage third-party app control of smart home devices

Google Home allows you to connect your home to third-party apps so you have more ways to control and automate your smart home devices. You can view, modify, or remove third-party app access at any time for any of the homes where you’re a manager.

You can grant third-party apps access to device types, and for sensitive devices you can grant or deny access to individual devices.

Third-party apps can create, schedule, and delete automations for the devices you grant them access to. If you or someone in your home later removes a third-party app’s access to devices or the home, automations created by that third-party app will no longer run as expected.

Note: For sensitive devices, if access is granted to all devices in a category, it will also grant access to any new devices in the same category. If you uncheck one or more of the existing devices, you'll need to grant access to each new device in that category.

Set up third-party app permissions

If you want to control a device linked to your Google Account with a third-party app, you’ll need to provide permission.

To learn more about what data is captured for each Google Nest device type, visit the Safety Center. Devices from other manufacturers linked through third-party apps may have additional controls. Check the device manufacturer’s documentation for more information.

To grant permission to a third-party app:

Open the third-party app and when prompted, log in to your Google Account. Some third-party apps may require you to manually grant permissions. Check their help documentation for more information.
Based on how the third-party app initiates the request for permission, you may find a pop-up banner. Tap the banner choose the Google Account you wish to link with the third-party app.
A consent screen requesting access to the home and devices will appear:
- If you have multiple homes, you’ll need to choose which home you wish to manage.
- To let the third-party app access the devices in the types they’ve registered for in your home, tap Allow. In this case, the app will also auto-link with future devices in the requested types connected to your home.
- To view and manage access to specific device types, tap Gear . For each type, tap the switch to turn linking on or off return to the consent screen tap Allow. In this case, the app will auto-link only with future devices in the types with linking turned on.
- Sensitive devices only:
  - Tap on a sensitive device type’s switch to manage all devices within that type return to the consent screen tap Allow. In this case, if you switch the locks type off, future locks won't be linked.
  - To limit access to specific devices, tap on Gear tap a sensitive device type to display a list of devices turn the switch on or off for each specific device return to the consent screen tap Allow. In this case, if linking is turned off for at least one device in a type, the app won’t auto-link future devices for that type.
  - To turn auto-link back on, you need to share all devices in that type.

To learn more about sensitive device types, go to Data security and privacy on linked third-party apps.

Manage third-party app permissions

After you’ve allowed access to third-party apps, you can manage those permissions later in the Google Home app or My Account. You can also manage permissions set up by other home managers in the Google Home app

Google Home app :

Linked apps page

Check all third-party apps that are linked to your home.
Manage devices linked to third-party apps.
Manage or remove a household member’s access to a third-party app.
Manage or remove a specific controller access to a third-party app, say in the case you had the app installed on a phone you no longer have in your possession.

Automations page

Check all automations created by third-party apps. To check, tap Automations at the bottom of the screen.

The Google Home app provides the most control of your home experience.

My Account:

Monitor and manage third-party apps you’ve linked with your Google Account.

Note: In My Account, you can’t view and manage device type settings or third-party app permissions granted by other home managers. If you remove your access to a third-party app from My Account, any household members who connected that app to your home will still have access unless you go into the Google Home app and specifically remove their access.

Go to Data security and privacy on linked third-party apps to learn more about what data is collected when you grant permission to third-party apps.

View automations created by third-party apps

Check and run automations in the Automations tab

Check the automations created by third-party apps in the Automations tab together with the name of the apps.

To manually start an automation:

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Automations .
Find the automation that you want to start.
Tap Play .

The Automation tile will tell you if it ran successfully.

For more information about automation, refer to Third-party app automations in the Google Home app.

Manage permissions for devices, people, and controllers

Important: If you have multiple homes linked to an app, you’ll need to choose which home you wish to manage.

Manage permissions for device types

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings Linked apps.
Tap the app you want to manage.
To view and manage access to specific device types, tap Gear .
For each type, tap the switch to turn linking on or off then return to the screen.
For sensitive devices you can also tap the device type to display a list of devices under that type turn the switch on or off for specific devices.

Manage permissions for people

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings Linked apps.
Tap the app you want to manage.
Tap People tap the member you’d like to manage permissions for tap Unlink person .
Tap Remove & unlink to continue, or Cancel to go back.

Manage permissions for controllers

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings Linked apps.
Tap the app you want to manage.
Tap Controllers tap the controller or device tap Unlink controller or Cancel to go back.

Unlink apps

Google Home app

Open the Google Home app .
1. Select the home you’d like to manage.
2. Tap Settings Linked apps
Tap the app you want to disconnect.
Tap Unlink home & remove access to confirm your choice.

My Account

Tap Data & Privacy Third party apps & services.
Tap the app you want to disconnect Delete all connections you have with the app.
Tap Confirm.

Switch between homes

Open the Google Home app .
Select the home you wish to switch to.
Tap Settings Linked apps.
Tap the app you want to manage.

Troubleshoot third-party app permissions

The third-party app doesn’t show any Google Home devices
- Check that you’ve granted permission to the third-party app when prompted to do so. Check with the app developer on how to grant these permissions again if you’ve removed or denied them.
The third-party app doesn’t show a specific type of Google Home device
- If you can’t find a specific type of device and other device types show, check that you’ve granted permission for the third-party app to access the missing device type. Learn how to manage permissions for device types.

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