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.

[marcg1]

Similar experience here.   Automations with multiple starters and conditions that had worked for several years started misbehaving in late September 2025.  The fix was to split the automations into smaller pieces with less logic in each.  Something changed in the script interpreter on the Google side.

I also learned that there's no revision history in the Google script editor.  I've been making local backups of scripts as a work-around.

[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.

[CalvinP]

Unhelpful answer. This happens to many of us intermittently. For me, my automations will all work some days, or none will work at all (but will show as ran in Activity), or some will work while the rest don't (but still show up in Activity like they ran). This started happening only after upgrading to Gemini. 

[CalvinP]

Now most of the time they will run for me, but not my spouse. When they're working for me, they will infrequently work for my spouse. It's as if they never truly did away with "personal" and "household" routines since the Gemini update. Also, regularly I've observed it will interpret a routine trigger phrase or even just a simple command ("Turn on the lights in Calvin's room") and it will take it as LLM input instead of a command. That by itself pisses me off. Why release a feature that can quarantine a command at random? Extremely stupid feature.

Ultimately, Google Devs, why would you ever release a product that wasn't ready? Expecting an LLM to understand how to handle incoming request types was the first mistake. That should obviously be done by a separate tool. Smh

[Andybobandy]

I’m still having this issue. Is there a fix yet?

[TMack1]

Since automation improvements,  the automation I use to turn on my front porch light (Hubspace switch from HomeDepot) has either become  unreilable or doesn't work.  In the old app, It was programed to turn on at sunset,  then a second automation routine turned it off at 10:25 pm.  New app revision seems to put both routines into one.  But,  I delete routine twice and no help.  Using voice or touch to turn light on and off works fine sobthe nest display is connected.