Google's Fast Pair fixed one of the biggest issues Bluetooth devices have: The pain in the butt it can sometimes be to get them talking to one another. But with Fast Pair, it's as simple as being nearby and turning both of them on. It just works. And we don't mean that in the sarcastic Todd Howard sense; it's legitimately one of our favorite features. The only drawback is that one of the gadgets has to be an Android phone. Or, at least, it was until now. Google is bringing Fast Pair to a whole lot of stuff, from Google TV and Android TV to smart home gadgets (if they've got Matter support), and even Chromebooks are getting in on it — though we knew that last part was coming.
If you aren't familiar somehow with the feature, it's pretty self-descriptive. Fast Pair made pairing a gadget like a pair of headphones to your smartphone super easy. Just turn it on, be within range, and you get a nice big prompt to connect — easy, right? There's more to how it works than that, but it's very simple to use. It's a feature we love, and I personally take it into account before buying Bluetooth buds or headphones.
According to Google, it's a feature many of you love as well, as the company's statistics claim people have used it over 100 million times. And now it's coming to more devices, bringing that same level of simplicity to whole other categories.
Fast Pair for Android TV and Chromebooks
To start, Fast Pair is coming to Android TV-based devices, and that includes the new Google TV. Basically, if you've got a Fast Pair-compatible Bluetooth device like a pair of headphones, you'll be able to quickly and easily pair your headphones with your TV. The schedule on this one is "coming months," so you might have a small wait. But that's just the start.
Fast Pair is also coming to Chromebooks. We've followed this feature in development for a while, and it should work as it does on Android devices. When a Fast Pair-compatible pair of headphones or buds are in range, you'll get a prompt to connect, all with a single click — much as it's just one tap on Android.
This will land sooner, too. Google says "coming weeks," so we might see it arrive before February, potentially as part of Chrome 97 or 98, based on that timing.
Relatedly, Google's also making it easier to set your Chromebook up by using your Android phone — sort of like how you can bootstrap a new phone using your old one. Your Google login, Wi-Fi passwords, and other saved info will easily transfer over. This one is "later this year," so it might be a while. But, back to Fast Pair.
Matter-compatible Smart Home stuff, too
Perhaps most excitingly, Google is also bringing Fast Pair to a whole new category of devices: Smart home stuff. I'm particularly curious as to how this will work — if it's Bluetooth-based like Fast Pair previously was, or if Google's extending the branding to cover other operations — but it sounds like it will bring the same ease of setup to a whole bunch of things that are usually pretty damn frustrating to get working.
There is one gotcha, though: It will only work for Matter-compatible devices (that's the big new cross-manufacturer smart home standard). Even Google's recent Nest cameras and thermostats don't have that yet — though Nest stuff is pretty easy to set up. Fast Pair for smart home devices will be able to connect them to your network, and (based on the gif above) even assign them a name and room, as well as associate them with your Google account and other apps — surprisingly, the company isn't limiting this to its own Google Home.
This is just one of the handful of announcements Google has made today here at CES. Well, not "here," most of the companies we cover (including Google) have dropped out, and we're staying home too. But there's more stuff to come.