Google wants to put Android in your home appliances

Android is the most popular OS for smart phones. And your toaster could soon run it as well.

Following the recent launch of Google Home, Google’s response to Amazon’s Echo/Alexa, the internet search giant has announced a Developers Preview of Android Things, a new platform for the Internet of Things, according to Mashable.

It’s only the latest sign that Google plans to focus massively on the Internet of Things in the future.

The main idea is to allow developers to come up with Android-based software for smart devices. Hence the opening sentence aborut your future toaster possibly running Android. With more and more devices having internet connectivity, from plugs to fridges to lightbulbs to doorbells. And this means that household devices are becoming more and more like your phone or tablet. In the age of the IoT, they are turning into computers without physical keyboards, specialized in domestic tasks.

It’s all about software

“[If] you can build an app, you can build a device,” reads the Developers page, cited by Mashable. Which is another way of saying the whole Internet of Things is all about putting software into everyday things.

With Android being such a popular operating system, Google’s move may soon attract new cohorts of developers into the IoT universe.

It’s not the first IoT platform pushed by Google. Last year, the company announced Brillo, which, like many other Google initiatives, is now mostly dead. Google’s webpage about Brillo now redirects to Android Things. The latter is touted as a step up. A Google representative told Mashable that with Brillo developers had access to a “much more lightweight version of Android.” In the meantime, the company has realized that “most people developing for smart devices … wanted the full Android developer experience and signature features.”

In the same announcement, Google also mentioned updates to its IoT communications platform, Weave, “to make it easier for all types of devices to connect to the cloud and interact with services like the Google Assistant.

Security, “a concern”

“Especially for connected devices throughout the world, security should be a major priority in building for this community,” Google told Mashable. According to the Android Things website, Android-running smart devices will benefit from regular security updates.

Indeed, one of the main issues with the IoT is that many smart devices have weak or no security, which makes them vulnerable to attacks. Android itself is no stranger to security flaws, and according to some experts it is hard to patch. That’s why, if you want to be safe from internet threats, regardless of the type of software found in your devices, you should ideally use a comprehensive smart home security solution such as Bitdefender BOX.