For example, if your smart thermostat hits a certain temperature, you can have your window shades come down and a fan turn on. Or, if it’s the morning and you turn the lights on, you can have a morning news briefing start and get the coffee maker going. Until now, Google Home routines were limited to either triggers based on time or by saying a phrase — “Hey Google, I’m leaving home,” for instance. That’s a lot more limiting, and a lot farther from the fully automated house that we were promised in The Jetsons. There’s a bit of magic when all your smart home devices work in concert. As someone with a house full of lights, cameras, locks, and other sensors, it’s a pain to have to jump to different apps, or even just open your phone every time you want to dim the lights and make sure the door is locked at night. Thankfully, that’s all changing for Google Home. Not only is Google redesigning the Home app so that it’s a lot easier to control all your smart home devices, but it’s adding the ability for smart home devices to turn on or off based on the state of another device. One example offered by Google: your living room lights dim when you turn on your TV. And Google will be adding a feature for power users not found with Alexa or HomeKit — a script editor, which will allow you to tweak the code for your automations, which is something you only see on more advanced smart home hubs, like the Hubitat. Those Google Home changes, combined with Google’s implementation of Matter (the new smart home standard that will make it a lot easier to control devices), should also help, uh, matters. Not all of the features Google revealed — such as the advanced automations — will be available at the start, but in the coming weeks, you’ll be able to sign up for a Public Preview (opens in new tab) and try out the new Google Home features before they’re official. It’s something that can’t come soon enough.
title: “Google Home Is Finally Catching Up To Alexa And Homekit Here S How” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-04” author: “Phyllis Wordlaw”
For example, if your smart thermostat hits a certain temperature, you can have your window shades come down and a fan turn on. Or, if it’s the morning and you turn the lights on, you can have a morning news briefing start and get the coffee maker going. Until now, Google Home routines were limited to either triggers based on time or by saying a phrase — “Hey Google, I’m leaving home,” for instance. That’s a lot more limiting, and a lot farther from the fully automated house that we were promised in The Jetsons. There’s a bit of magic when all your smart home devices work in concert. As someone with a house full of lights, cameras, locks, and other sensors, it’s a pain to have to jump to different apps, or even just open your phone every time you want to dim the lights and make sure the door is locked at night. Thankfully, that’s all changing for Google Home. Not only is Google redesigning the Home app so that it’s a lot easier to control all your smart home devices, but it’s adding the ability for smart home devices to turn on or off based on the state of another device. One example offered by Google: your living room lights dim when you turn on your TV. And Google will be adding a feature for power users not found with Alexa or HomeKit — a script editor, which will allow you to tweak the code for your automations, which is something you only see on more advanced smart home hubs, like the Hubitat. Those Google Home changes, combined with Google’s implementation of Matter (the new smart home standard that will make it a lot easier to control devices), should also help, uh, matters. Not all of the features Google revealed — such as the advanced automations — will be available at the start, but in the coming weeks, you’ll be able to sign up for a Public Preview (opens in new tab) and try out the new Google Home features before they’re official. It’s something that can’t come soon enough.
