Google Home is rolling out a substantial update that introduces new starters, conditions, and actions, which will make complex smart home automations easier. This is great for anyone who felt limited by the simple time-based or motion-based routines that Google Home previously offered.
Google Home’s product chief, Anish Kattukaran, confirmed the update, noting that these additions give users much deeper control over their devices. For example, you can now create an automation that uses media playback as a trigger. This lets you automatically dim your living room lights to 50% when your TV starts playing a movie or show. That’s the kind of seamless experience we’ve been waiting for in a modern smart home system.
The core of this update lies in the new conditions, which act as the “if” statements in your routines. You can even use volume levels as a trigger, so a routine can trigger only when the volume hits a certain level, like “When the volume is 50.” Checking the playback state of your media device is also possible. This includes triggers for when a speaker is paused, when a TV is playing, or even if a device is currently buffering.
Beyond media, the new conditions apply to lighting and appliances. You can now set a routine to trigger based on light brightness, like “When the brightness is above 80%.” For me, the most exciting functional addition is the ability to check the state of smart appliances. This lets you set a condition for when the washer is running, when the dryer is stopped, or if there is an error with the coffee machine.
This appliance monitoring feature is a major quality-of-life upgrade. For instance, it is possible to set your smart speaker to announce that the washer is stopped, which lets you know the cycle is actually finished. It is important to know that this appliance support is currently limited. Currently, the feature is compatible with washers, dryers, and coffee makers, but robot vacuums, mops, and smart ovens are not yet supported.
The update also brings “then” statements into your routines. You can now arm your security system automatically. A fantastic example is setting the system to arm itself every night at 10:00 PM. I think the company should have included a disarm action in this batch, but it is great to see the arming capability added.
You can also now control physical devices like blinds and set an action to open or close the living room blinds as part of your morning routine. For those with robot vacuums, you now have specific actions to pause, resume, or dock the device, rather than just turning it on or off. Additionally, starting, stopping, resuming, or pausing those supported smart appliances is possible, like starting the coffee machine remotely. Finally, this update also lets you control light effects on smart bulbs, although this initial release only supports stopping a light effect.
Anish Kattukaran said that Google has even more actions and triggers in the pipeline, and we can expect another batch of new features to roll out in the next few weeks. You’ll need to be on version 4.6.55.1 of the Android app to see these changes, but don’t panic if they aren’t there yet. Since Google releases these updates in waves, it might be a few days before the new options hit your specific device.
Source: Google
