Scheduling devices to turn off no longer works

[Automation009]

Something changed this week and I can no longer "Hey Google turn off the fan in 3 hours"

It is giving me a "Sorry because of potential risk to safety I can't schedule actions for devices configured as outlets".

My fan is hooked up through a TP Kasa smart outlet. I have the device configured as a "fan" within the app and was previously able to schedule events. Now it shows as a "fan (outlet)" device and this is action is no longer possible.

Is there a work-around? Some people are smart enough not to put space heaters and curling irons on their smart devices... @@

[Crease]

That's my hope, too:  that this is merely a bug, an unintended consequence of some other feature enhancement and not a deliberate decision by Google to cripple this feature.  Like I said before, when I noticed that this was broken, it seemed to be fixed the following day, but then has been broken again since then.  That puts me on board with the "bug" hypothesis.

[notzippy]

from a phone this command works, but the hub fails to do this. seems like a hub issue.

[Crease]

It definitely appears to be an issue with smart displays and speakers, at least in my experience (Home Hub and Home Minis).  I think it's reasonable to expect a consistent Assistant experience regardless of which device I'm speaking to, and that doesn't seem to be the case currently.

[Volsgal84]

I am having the same issue with my Hub Max. But they are telling me it's not a bug, since when I ask google on my phone it works but not my tablet or Hub Max. Has anyone heard or gotten a real response from google?

[Crease]

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@Volsgal84 wrote:

But they are telling me it's not a bug....

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I'm curious about who's telling you that.  According to other posts in this topic, the inconsistent behavior from Google Assistant seems to be bug-related, but that's likely speculation since I haven't seen any official word from Google Nest.

[Volsgal84]

I have talked to six different people and keep getting different reasons. I have multiple cases open and nobody seems to help they keep saying the outlets themselves but yet other people are saying it's not the outlets. 

[Crease]

I'm still unsure who's telling you that, but if you're able to get the outlets to respond as expected when talking to Google Assistant on your phone, then I think it's reasonable to believe that the problem is not with the outlets themselves.

[Volsgal84]

I don't know who they are I just was told that they are the highest team support you can get through Google when you contact them. When I say command on my phone it works through the assistant, but when I do the same on my tablet or my Hub Max it's not working. That's why one person is telling me it's a bug, but then the next person tells you it's not it's the outlets. 

[Crease]

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@Volsgal84 wrote:

When I say command on my phone it works through the assistant, but when I do the same on my tablet or my Hub Max it's not working.

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Right.  That's the same issue that several of us have reported here, and the inconsistent response from Google Assistant on different devices is mildly maddening.

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@Volsgal84 wrote:

That's why one person is telling me it's a bug, but then the next person tells you it's not it's the outlets. 

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If you get the expected response from the outlet when you're using your phone, then it should be apparent to anyone trying to assist you that the problem is not with the outlet.  I don't know why anyone would tell you that the problem is with the outlet.

I share your frustration here.

[ChaoticTerpenes]

Yeah it's definitely not the devices themselves because I have two of the exact same HS200 Light switches next to each other, one for the light and one for the fan.

Because one of the switches was labelled a fan it got identified as a (switch) but the light didn't receive this tag. This happened with all my devices labeled this way and therefore became uncontrollable via the mini or hub. Like others have said it'll still work through my phone though. (As long as those sneaky devices can't hear me)

[photolarry1]

This appears to be solved as of 01-06-2024/.  I just said "Hey Google turn off bedroom light in 15 minutes" and it said "turning off bedroom light at 1:39" which is 15 minutes from right now. It seems to work now for both timeframes (turn  off for x minutes or turn on for x minutes).  I said turn on the living room light for 5 ,minutes and it replied "Sure I will turn on the living room light for 5 minutes."  Thank you to Google Nest support/firmware team.  It took a few months but seems this issue has been fixed. 

[sealover1]

it's still not working on mine yet

[notzippy]

i was just going to update this post as well. noticed the change on jan 4. 

[Crease]

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@photolarry1 wrote:

Thank you to Google Nest support/firmware team.  It took a few months but seems this issue has been fixed. 

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I agree that something has changed, but I don't think it's actually a firmware issue, nor do I think the issue is completely resolved.

I checked the firmware of my previous test devices in Google Home, and the Hub and Mini still show the same firmware versions as before.  I also repeated my previous round of testing with the Mini, and now I'd have to reverse the grades if I created another table.  By that I mean that the last three verbal commands (with the plug named "Test Lamp") completed successfully and as expected without any of the "potential risk to safety" nonsense, and the first three verbal commands (with the plug named "Test Lamp Plug") all failed because the commands executed immediately and seemed to completely disregard the time component.

It seems that one lesson here is to avoid words like "plug" (and probably "outlet") in a device's name, even though that's what it is and Google Home knows that's what it is (because the app recognizes it as "Device type: Light (Outlet)").  Apparently the device name from Home factors into how Assistant interprets and processes the verbal command.  It also seems that Google Nest continues to make changes to the way Assistant deals with these things in the cloud (not directly on the devices or locally for me, anyway, because the smart plugs I'm using are not Matter compliant), and sometimes they break one thing while fixing something else.

At this point, I still consider the issue unresolved, though paying attention to key words in device names seems to continue to be something of a work-around...at least until Google Nest changes something else on their end.

[davemad]

So, as the OP of this thread I'm also happy to report that my home group seems to be working as normal again; I can use (on any of my nest devices) "switch on/off the <X> room lamp(s) in 5 minutes" or "switch on/off the <X> room lamp(s) at MM:HH". I can also use "switch on/off the <X> lamp(s) for Y minutes". 
I can see from the thread that it's not working for everybody, but I would suspect that this will come soon now. Fingers crossed!!

[Automation009]

So as the real OP of this thread I'm sad to report I have never had an issue with devices that are lights. Such as Phillips hue. Only devices configured as outlets. Still not working for me

[ChaoticTerpenes]

So, as a member of this thread and not the OP I'm happy to report that it works for me now. Hopefully everyone's devices will be working soon.

[davemad]

My sincere apologies! In my mind I had opened the thread, but I was mistaken!  Never mind: my conclusion remains the same - since this now appears to have started working again for several members experiencing this problem, it would appear that this is in some kind of "solution roll-out".  Apologies again the the real OP!

[sealover1]

mine is the same as well dave

[sealover1]

Just a quick update..... everything working back to normal now and sockets named as a fan or light, I can now put a timer on them like hey google turn on the front room fire for 10 mins

[Automation009]

Good news same for me 🙂

[Crease]

Thanks for chiming in with the update as the original poster!

[KP5891]

Same thing is happening to me! Ok google, I will switch to Alexa then! Your services degrated significantly over the years, anyway!!!