Google Home automations not reliably running

[michaelsmithers]

I've been using Google Wifi and Google Home for many years. For the last few years I've had some household time-based automation routines configured to turn power on & off for various appliances. In the last few months, those routines have become unreliable - just randomly not running. It's not just one routine, it could be any. And when I check the "Activity" log in Google Home, there's no entry for the routine that failed - i.e. the log confirms that Google didn't run the routine. (When I then manually trigger the device, a log entry appears.)

The routines all switch TP-Link Tapo power switches on or off. I've deleted all routines from Google Home, unlinked the Tapo integration from Google Home, relinked Tapo, and recreated all the routines, but it's made no difference; some are just not running at all.

FWIW When I re-created the routines, I was presented with the new UI that includes "conditions", which I'm not using. So the triggering problem is present with both the old and new routines.

Google, what is going on? If automation routines are not reliable, then why provide this feature? Please investigate and fix.

[michaelsmithers]

I've been using Google Wifi and Google Home for many years. For the last few years I've had some household time-based automation routines configured to turn power on & off for various appliances. In the last few months, those routines have become unreliable - just randomly not running. It's not just one routine, it could be any. And when I check the "Activity" log in Google Home, there's no entry for the routine that failed - i.e. the log confirms that Google didn't run the routine. (When I then manually trigger the device, a log entry appears.)

The routines all switch TP-Link Tapo power switches on or off. I've deleted all routines from Google Home, unlinked the Tapo integration from Google Home, relinked Tapo, and recreated all the routines, but it's made no difference; some are just not running at all.

FWIW When I re-created the routines, I was presented with the new UI that includes "conditions", which I'm not using. So the triggering problem is present with both the old and new routines.

Google, what is going on? If automation routines are not reliable, then why provide this feature? Please investigate and fix.

[Hamzer]

Same issue here.  Routines that were working just don't run anymore.  It's for different linked services too so it's not a third party issue. This happened since they improved the setup to include conditions I think.

[DavidJenkins]

I’ve experienced similar issues with Google Home routines not running reliably. Unlinking/relinking integrations and even recreating routines didn’t solve it for me either. What helped was simplifying the routines, avoiding stacked triggers and splitting complex automations into smaller ones.

Since I also depend on automations for managing workflows through this website, I know how frustrating it can be when routines fail without explanation. Hopefully, Google addresses this in future updates, but in the meantime, keeping routines lightweight has improved reliability on my end.

[Suc_dpe · Accepted solution]

Hello,

This automation reliability issue is concerning, especially since you've already tried the standard troubleshooting steps.

The fact that there's no activity log entry when routines fail suggests the trigger isn't being recognized at all, rather than the routine failing to execute. This points to a scheduling service issue.

A few things to check:

• Are the failed routines all at similar times? (Could indicate server load issues)
• Try creating a simple test routine with just one action to isolate if it's trigger-specific
• Check if your Google Home app has any pending updates

We're aware of intermittent automation reliability issues and the engineering team is investigating. Your detailed feedback about the activity logs is helpful for diagnosis.

For now, consider setting critical routines to trigger 5-10 minutes earlier as a workaround, since the failures seem random rather than systematic.

[eb164c]

Regarding your suggested things to check:

- No the routines are failing at random times, 7am, 8am, 10am, 4pm, 8pm, 9pm...

- N/A.. My 8 routines each only have 1 action...

- I saw problems with version 3.41.50 and a few versions prior. (These problems started a few months ago.) Just last night, 3.41.51 became available and I updated. However I can't see how 3.41.50 verses 3.41.51 would make a difference. The problem appears to be with Google servers, not the client app.

In the meantime I've recreated all the routines in the TP Link "Tapo" app and, so far, the automations are running correctly there.

Again, I think this is a problem with Google's servers.