Google put a radar sensor in a bedside device that tracks your breathing, movement, coughing, and snoring all night. They said radar is more private than a camera. It is more intimate. A camera sees your face. The radar measures your respiratory rate and knows when you toss and turn. Google now has your sleep data alongside your search history. It knows what keeps you up at night — literally and figuratively. Google put a microphone in the original Nest Hub and forgot to mention it. Not in the specs. Not in the marketing. Not on the box. They called it a documentation error. A microphone in a bedroom device, accidentally undisclosed. Google paid $5.4 million to settle the lawsuit. The microphone is still there in every unit sold.
What they claim: Google describes Nest Hub data collection as optional and user-controlled
What we found: Google paid $5.4 million to settle a lawsuit over the original Nest Hub's undisclosed microphone. The device shipped with a microphone that was not mentioned in the product specifications or marketing materials. Google called it an "error" in the product documentation. A microphone hidden in a device that sits in your bedroom — accidentally undocumented.
What they claim: Google Nest Hub promotes sleep tracking via Soli radar as a privacy-friendly alternative to cameras
What we found: The Nest Hub's Soli radar tracks breathing rate, movement, coughing, and snoring throughout the night, creating a detailed physiological profile of your sleep. This health data is sent to Google's cloud and processed alongside your search history, YouTube watches, location history, and email. Google positioned radar as "more private than a camera" but the data collected is arguably more intimate.