After telling us back at MWC that Google Home’s Routines feature was finally ready to rollout in a few weeks, Google looks like it has taken the next step towards making that happen. This afternoon, they posted new support pages for Google Home Routines, filling in many of the blanks we were curious about from this latest feature that may be one of Google Home’s best.
According to Google, Routines have now replaced the My Day feature that you used to access on Google Home. So when you go into the Google Home app here shortly and head into “More settings,” you’ll see that Routines will have taken the place of My Day. And that’s not a bad thing, since Routines are far more powerful than the previous My Day morning command.
Out of the gate, you’ll have 6 Routines that you can customize (good morning, bedtime, leaving home, I’m home, commuting to work, and commuting home).
In the “good morning” command, you’ll say “Hey Google, good morning…,” to have it take your phone off silent (if initiated from your phone), adjust lights/plugs/thermostats/etc., tell you about the day’s weather or commute or calendar or reminders, and adjust media volume. You could then have it finish off by playing music or news, the radio, and audiobook, or nothing.
The bedtime command will do things like silent your phone, tell you about tomorrow’s weather or calendar items, set alarms, adjust lights and other smart home products, and adjust media volumes. You can even have it trigger music or sleep sounds.
With other Routines commands like “I’m home” or “Let’s go to work” or “I’m leaving,” Google Home and the Assistant will do exactly what you think they will: tell you about commutes and the weather, adjust smart home products (lights, thermostats, smart plugs, and more), send text messages (ex: a text to family that you are on your way home), broadcast to Google Home’s that you are coming home, and play music or news, that sort of thing.
Again, Routines should be rolling out shortly, now that Google has posted all of the details surrounding them. Be sure to update your Google Home app and head into “More settings” to look for the option.
UPDATE 3/19: You should all have Routines as an option now.
This post was last modified on March 19, 2018 2:42 pm