On July 16, 2026 the European Commission, under the Digital Markets Act, ordered Alphabet to open eleven Android features—always-on wake-word detection, ambient sensor access, and screen automation among them—to every assistant on equal terms. Open Home Foundation's Android work for Home Assistant helped surface the lockout: Google's DSP-backed hotword path stayed Google-only, so third-party apps either burned battery on the CPU or lost Gemini by grabbing the default-assistant role. https://www.openhomefoundation.org/blog/a-big-win-for-android-interoperability/

HA's Companion workaround—microWakeWord on the CPU—pushed battery use from roughly 1% toward 15%, left the green mic privacy indicator permanently on, and forced a default-assistant swap that locked out Gemini. The ruling requires DSP first-stage detection when available, second-stage confirmation, no default-role gate, concurrent wake words from Alphabet and third parties, plus ambient mic/camera access under the same conditions Google gets. Sandboxing in an isolated process is the privacy piece that actually matters: audio stays walled off until the wake word clears. Deadlines are hard—Android 18 by August 1, 2027; concurrent hotword detection by Android 19, no later than August 1, 2028. https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2026/07/31/a-big-win-for-android-interoperability/

Get: wait for Android 18 implementations that expose DSP wake-word and equal ambient-sensor APIs, then lean on Companion once those land—especially if the household wants Okay Nabu without dumping Gemini. Skip: treating this as a today ship; Google still designs the plumbing, malicious compliance is an open risk, and phones without a usable DSP keep the inefficient CPU path. Install: nothing new from this ruling alone—keep the current Companion/Assist stack, watch OHF's beta testing and the February 2027 eligibility-program consultation, and don't rewrite the house voice plan around APIs that don't exist until 2027–2028.

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