6 Of The Most Useful Google Home Automations You Can Set Up For Your Smart Home

The great thing about smart home technology isn't just that you can turn the lights off without getting out of bed, but that you don't have to turn them off at all. With Google Home, you can harness the power of automated routines to make the best Google Home smart devices carry out actions on their own. The possibilities are practically endless, as you can set Google Home routines to trigger based on the time of day, your location, or even a custom command. Routines can do anything you can imagine, from controlling your lights to playing a particular song, and those actions can stack to create even more possibilities.

With so many options at your fingertips, it can be hard to figure out which routines are most useful for you. That's why we've rounded up six of the most helpful Google Home automations you can set up right now, provided you have the right smart devices. Whether you just want your lights to follow a schedule, dream of having your home to respond when you arrive at the end of the day, or want some ideas that can spark further inspiration for your particular needs, we've got them all. 

For each routine, we'll give you the whole recipe, including the right triggers and actions to set. So, without further ado, here are a few Google Home automations that can help put your smart home life on easy mode right now.

Before we talk about the most useful Google Home automations you can employ in your own home, let's briefly cover how to set routines. The first things you need to do are set up all your smart home devices and link them or their apps into your Google Home app on your Android or iOS device. You can also set up Google Home light groups by assigning lights to rooms and group Google Nest speakers to get better results from your routines. Assuming all that setup is in place, open the Google Home app and follow these steps:

1. Tap on the Automations tab, then tap the Add button in the bottom right corner of the screen.
2. Choose whether the routine will be Personal, meaning only you can see and edit it, or Household, meaning all home members can see and edit it.
3. Name the routine by tapping Untitled.
4. Add Starters. These are the triggers that set the routine in motion. You can choose a Google Assistant voice command, a specific time, sunrise or sunset, the dismissal of an alarm, or your arrival or departure from a location as starters, and you can add multiple starters.
5. Choose actions for the routine. There are too many possible actions to list here, including reminders, setting announcements, adjusting lights, thermostats, and other home devices, and even custom actions limited only by your imagination and the capabilities of your devices, so browse through them to find what you're looking for.
6. Once you've set all the actions, you can drag them using the handles to the left of their icons. This will set the order in which they occur.
7. Tap Save when you're done. The routine will now activate whenever one of your Starters occurs.

Let's start with one of the most classic routines for any smart home: the wake up routine. Whether you're a morning person who greets each day with a smile or the sort of individual who dreads the rising sun, a morning routine in Google Home can start your day off that much easier.

When choosing a starter for this routine, you've got options. You can choose your usual wakeup time, sunrise, a voice command, or have the routine trigger when you dismiss an alarm on your phone, tablet, or smart clock. You can also choose some combinations thereof.

Customize actions to your preferences. We all like to wake up to something slightly different. Some ideas include having your lights turn on in the bedroom and kitchen or opening your smart blinds, to help you wake up and get that coffee pot running. Those with smart coffee makers can add them into this routine, ensuring the coffee is freshly brewed when you make it to the kitchen. You can also add a thermostat setting into the mix to wake up in a warmer or cooler environment. If you enjoy waking up with music or a podcast, you can set your preferences to play on any of your smart speakers or Google Home connected TVs, as well. 

There are, of course, many more possibilities here, so feel free to come up with a wakeup routine that's truly personalized to you. For example, maybe you want your morning routine to take your phone off silent, or to turn on your favorite news station on the TV. If you have kids, you can set the smart devices in their room to help facilitate their own morning routines.

One more obvious routine you can set up in Google Home is a bedtime routine. These are great no matter your living situation, but they can be especially useful for people who live in large houses. No more wandering the halls and rooms of your house flicking off lights and shutting down appliances before bed. You won't even have to fiddle around in the Google Home app to do all of that. Instead, your home will go to sleep when you do.

When choosing a starter for this routine, you can choose from a specific time, sunset, a voice command, or some combination thereof. For most people, a set time will work best, especially if you have a predictable daily routine. Actions for a bedtime routine can vary depending on what your nighttime routine is like. Some ideas include turning off all but your bedside lamp, playing white noise or nature sounds on your bedroom speaker, and turning on a smart fan in the summer. If you have smart home lighting and security gadgets, you can add them into the mix, too. For example, you can set your smart locks to secure your doors in case you forget to do so.

You can set the routine earlier in the evening if you want a wind-down period before bed. This could look like having the lights dim slowly over time, adjusting the thermostat, and lowering the volume of smart devices. Again, the possibilities for a bedtime routine are limited only by your smart devices and your imagination, so feel free to add anything that would be useful to your needs.

Like most people, you probably wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom or refill a glass of water. Maybe you're a late-night snacker who can't get back to bed without a few crackers or carrot sticks. Of course, with your house darkened and everyone asleep, you find yourself stumbling through the inky blackness praying you don't bump into anything. Well, you can make those late night excursions much easier with a simple Google Home routine that gives you just the light you need. 

For this routine, you'll need dimmable smart lights installed en route from your bedroom to your bathroom or kitchen — as well as in those rooms — and a smart speaker near your bed. Since you can't know the precise time you'll wake up during the night, the best starter for this routine is a voice command. You could use something like, "Midnight snack," or any other phrase you'll remember when groggily regaining consciousness.

For actions, have the lights from your bedroom to your bathroom or kitchen turn on with brightness dimmed to your comfort level. For most people, setting it to 10% or so should give you just enough light to see where you're going but not enough to be uncomfortable or wake people up. Set the lights in your bathroom or kitchen to your comfort level as well.

You'll need a way to end this routine after going back to bed. You can do so either by setting a second routine with a voice command that turns the lights back off  – for example, "I'm back in bed " — or by appending a timed action to the end of the original routine that turns them off.

Some of my personal smart home innovations are what I call "go go gadget" routines in Google Home. These are simple routines that accomplish a particular action or set of actions with slightly more ease than executing them manually. 

For example, when I want to shuffle my music library, I could say, "Hey Google, shuffle my songs on Apple Music," or I could open the Apple Music app, navigate to songs, and hit shuffle all. Instead, I've set my library to shuffle when I say, "Hey Google, go go gadget music." As another example, I like to watch movies in my home theater with the lights dimmed in the living room and off elsewhere, the thermostat off so the fan noise doesn't roar over the audio, and the TV set to a particular volume level. All of that is condensed into the command, "Go go gadget theater."

Of course, you don't have to use "go go gadget" as your trigger phrase. I merely picked it because it's fun to say and can't easily be confused with other commands by my smart speakers. The idea is simply to create a phrase that's easy to remember for the things you need your smart home equipment to do on a regular basis.

If you've invested in some smart home security products such as smart locks, security cameras, floodlights, motion sensors, or alarm systems, you can set a routine that will put them all to work at the same time to keep your home secure and provide you with peace of mind.

Depending on your living situation and lifestyle, you may wish to trigger your lockdown routine when no one is home or when you leave for work in the morning. You can accomplish either of these with a location based starter. You can also set a voice command starter for edge cases when you need to trigger it unexpectedly. And of course, you can fold this routine into your bedtime so your home is secured while you sleep.

A lockdown routine should lock all the exterior doors to your home and place any security systems, motion sensors, doorbells, or floodlights on high alert mode, if such modes are available. If those devices are activated, make sure you include a method to alert you in the routine. This could be a broadcast message over your smart speakers, a text to yourself, or whatever else you're sure to notice.

Leaving your home vacant while you're on vacation is a risk you take to get away from daily life, but when you're lounging poolside in a tropical paradise, the last thing you want is to worry whether your home is safe. That's why having a vacation routine available in your Google Home account can be a great way to set your mind at ease so you can enjoy your time away from life's struggles while your smart devices do all the work.

A voice command for this routine is best since you probably don't go on regularly scheduled vacations. Something simple like "I'm going on vacation" will suffice. Start by adding a routine for your lights that turns them on and off at night, and add some randomization as well. This way, anyone paying undue attention to your home will conclude someone is home and controlling the lights. Make sure to incorporate all of your smart home security devices, such as locks, doorbells, motion sensors, floodlights, and alarm systems into the mix, putting them on high alert modes if any are available on your particular product models.

Other nice-to-haves as part of a vacation routine include temperature controls, which can be set to kick on just often enough to keep your home from freezing or overheating. You can of course include any smart gadgets you'd like into this routine. It looks like Google is working on an official vacation mode for Home, which is reportedly coming soon, so stay tuned for that, as well.