Hey Google Home & Nest Community,
We know how important automations are, whether it’s to make everyday tasks more convenient, or to enjoy greater peace of mind. We really appreciate all your feedback and social requests for more capabilities. We are very excited to share updates to automation capabilities that will give you more power and flexibility to customize your household automations!
Expanded starters, conditions, and actions for automation of supported devices in the Google Home app
- Security & Access Control
- Arm and disarm: Arm security systems, check if the security system is armed
- Door lock monitoring: Checking specific states like locked, unlocked, jammed, forced open, or ajar.
- Binary sensors: Detecting simple true/false states such as contact/no contact, leak/no leak, or freeze/no freeze.
- Appliance & Cleaning:
- Appliance state (Start & Stop): Controlling operational states (Start, Stop, Pause, Resume) for devices like washers, dryers, and coffee machines.
- Robot vacuums: Specific commands to dock, pause, or resume vacuum cleaning sessions.
- Lighting & Environment Control
- Lighting control: Adjusting brightness levels, toggling On/Off, and managing light effects.
- Colored lights: Change the color of a device (light bulb, LED strip, etc.), change the color temperature of a device
- Window coverings: Opening and closing blinds or checking their specific position percentage.
- Climate: Monitoring relative humidity levels via thermostats.
- Media & Entertainment
- Playback control: Monitoring states like playing, paused, or buffering.
- Volume: Checking and managing volume levels on media devices.
- Device Health & Inputs
- Power management: Monitoring battery levels and charging status.
- Switch events: Utilizing smart switch inputs, including initial presses, long presses, and release events.
You can see the full list of supported automation starters, conditions & actions along with sample prompts here.1 While these are only available in the latest Google Home app automations editor today, they will be coming to Ask Home and Help me create soon.
Check out these fun new automations our team has built and use in their everyday lives!
- Kathryn, Product Manager
- My husband abhors overhead lights so we have 4 lamps and 2 long colored light strips in our bedroom. I can use my voice to turn them on and off - but sometimes he is already asleep and I don't want to wake him, so I built the automation using an IKEA switch next to my bed that turns them all off with 1 button.
- Deyu, UX Designer
- My home gets hot and sometimes moist in the summer, so when the temperature or humidity hits a certain value, my multiple fans (connected to smart outlets) will turn on and off accordingly. This helps keep both the temperature and humidity regulated throughout the season.
- Before cooking, I use a simple voice prompt to turn lights to maximum brightness, and turn on my air purifier. My automation also turns off the air purifier after 2 hours (a “delay” action in my automation).
- Johnny, Technical Program Manager
- Ever since I set up my camera to automatically turn on the living room and kitchen lights the moment I get home, I no longer need to walk into both areas to turn them on myself - this smart home integration is a huge upgrade.
- James, Software Engineer
- I never remember to check the weather before starting my day and leaving the house. I set up a simple automation to announce today’s weather on my kitchen speaker every morning at 8:00 AM.
- Aaron, Software Engineer
- At 8:30 PM on school nights, our living room lights glow red. It’s our gentle, “no-words-needed” cue for the kids to start their trek upstairs for bed. They can argue with parents, but not with the smart home!
We are committed to continuing this momentum and will be constantly adding more capabilities and personalization to automations month over month. Your feedback is invaluable, so don't hesitate to send feedback in the app as you explore these new features. We hope you enjoy these powerful new tools for building a smarter, more personalized home!
Keep an eye on our release notes to stay up to date on these rollouts.
Thanks,
Kathryn, Product Manager, Google Home & Nest
1 Home Automations may require additional enrollment and setup, and depend on working internet, Wi-Fi and service availability for compatible smart home devices (sold separately) included in the automations.
