If you’re like most people, you probably turn off your lights at bedtime to save energy. But what if you could automate that process? You can with the Google Assistant. To set up the Google Assistant to turn off your lights at bedtime, first open the Google Home app on your phone. Tap the three lines in the top left corner of the Home screen and select “Settings.” Under “General,” tap “Voice control.” Under “Google services,” tap “Google assistant.” In the “Assistant settings” dialog box that opens, scroll down and tap “Turn on voice control at bedtime.” (If you don’t see this option, your Google Home is probably set up for hands-free use only and not for turning off lights.) Now all you have to do is say “Hey Google, turn off my lights” when you’re ready to go to sleep and your lights will be turned off within a few minutes! ..
When you’re tired and ready for bed, the last thing you want to do is drag yourself through the usual nighttime routine of turning off the lights, muting your phone, and setting an alarm. Use the “Bedtime” routine in the Google Home app to automate it!
“Routines” are a feature built into the Google Assistant and Nest smart speakers and displays. They enable you to create a string of actions to be executed with a single command. They can be extremely powerful if you take some time to set them up. The “Bedtime” and “Good Morning” routines are especially useful.
Open the Google Home app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device and then tap the “Routines” button in the top section.
The list of routines includes a few that Google already made. Select “Bedtime.”
There are a few different sections on this page that determine what the routine will do. At the top, tap the text under “When.”
This is where you can choose commands to initiate the “Bedtime” routine. There are a few commands already listed, and you can tap “Add” to enter more.
Tap “OK” when you’re done entering commands.
The next section determines what Google Assistant will do and in what order it will happen. There are a number of actions you can toggle on, and tap the “Gear” icon to tweak what they do.
To add your own custom action, tap “Add Action.”
You can enter any phrase that you would say to Google Assistant. For example, you could type “turn off Living Room TV” to automatically turn off your TV at night. Tap “OK” when finished.
Next, we can adjust the order in which these actions will occur. Tap “Change Order.”
Tap and hold the handle (four stacked lines) next to an action, and drag it up or down to adjust the order. Select “Done” when finished.
Lastly, you can choose to have some sort of media play after the Assistant commands. Select one of the options, and tap the “Gear” icon to set it up. Each one has a slightly different action:
Music: Enter a playlist, artist, song, or genre, and the duration for the music to play. The music will begin playing on your default music service. Sleep Sounds: Select from a list of sleep sounds that will automatically stop after a while. Nothing: No audio will play after the Assistant commands.
Tap the “Save” button at the top of the screen to save the routine.
Now, all you have to do is say “Hey Google, bedtime” (or any of the other commands you entered), and the routine will run.
