Google Home devices reportedly recorded noises even without the “Hey Google” prompt due to the inadvertent rollout of a home security system feature.

After Google Home users started receiving mysterious alerts when their fire alarms went off or their plates smashed in their homes, Google acknowledged that it accidentally rolled out a feature causing the smart devices to record sounds without the voice prompt.

Reports of the privacy faux pas began after one Reddit user reported earlier in August that Google sent him a phone notification saying that the smoke detector in his home had been triggered. Others said they were notified of possible glass breaking when some dishes broke or when they were watching television. These reported incidents surprised Google Home users as the devices are only supposed to record audio when prompted with specific commands, including “Hey Google” or “OK Google.”

Google for its part said that the alerts are part of a subscription service called “Nest Aware,” first launched in May. As part of this service, users of Google cameras, speakers and displays can pay for the devices to detect any “critical” sound in their home and send them an alert on their phones while they are away from their homes. But, while users can sign up for service, Google said that the feature was inadvertently turned on for some users.

“We are aware of an issue that inadvertently enabled sound detection alerts for sounds like smoke alarms or glass breaking on speakers that are not part of a Nest Aware subscription,” a Google spokesperson told Threatpost. “The issue was caused by a recent software update and only impacted a subset of Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Max speakers. We have since rolled out a fix that will automatically disable sound detection on devices that are not part of Nest Aware.”

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