Create and manage routines in the Google Home app

When you set up routines, you and members of your home can get help from Google Assistant with tasks throughout the day. Schedule a routine for when you need it, or start it whenever you want, and Google Assistant can automatically do multiple actions.

For example, you can create:

• A personal routine that starts when you say, “Hey Google, good morning”, then Google Assistant turns on your compatible smart lights, tells you about the weather, lists your calendar events for the day, and plays news.
• A household routine where Google Home turns on your connected porch light and sets the thermostat to 23°C everyday at sunset.
• A household routine that starts when anyone turns on the living room TV, and then Google Assistant performs a custom command, like “Turn on the amplifier”.

The routines feature is currently not available in Indonesia and Thailand. In all other regions where Google products are sold, routines are only available in select languages.

Learn about the types of routines

Personal routines

Personal routines help you automate tasks throughout your day. For example, Google Assistant can play the morning news when you dismiss an alarm.

For personal routines:

• Only you can create, edit and start personal routines for yourself.
• Only you can view when your personal routine runs in My Activity.
• You can get personal results, like events and reminders from your calendar.

Household routines

Household routines help automate shared home devices for everyone in your home. For example, if you’ve turned on presence sensing, Google can turn on compatible lights when someone comes home.

 

For household routines:

• Only eligible home members with manager access can create or edit a household routine.
• Anyone in the home, including guests, can start most household routines.
• All home members can check when a household routine starts. This info is in the Google Home app, in the Home history.
• They can start when a device turns on or off.
• They can’t give personal results like events or reminders from a home member’s calendar.

• They can start when everyone’s away or when someone comes home. Learn more about Home and Away routines.

Create a routine

Important: If you set up Digital Wellbeing, routines might be restricted by Downtime, filters or Do Not Disturb.

You can create a routine for yourself or everyone in your home.

Create a personal routine

Important: To get results like calendar events and commute info, you must turn on personal results.

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. On the home screen , tap Routines  New Personal.
   • If you don't find routines , learn why routines might not show.
3. To name your routine, next to 'New routine', tap Edit .
   • If you add a voice starter before you name your routine, the voice starter becomes the name.
4. Add the starters and actions that you want.
5. If your routine is set to start automatically and includes actions with audio, select the device that you want the audio to play on.
   1. At the bottom, tap No device for audio.
   2. Select the device.
   3. Tap Save.
6. Tap Save.

You can find your new routine in the list under 'Your routines'. This list also includes some ready-made routines that you can edit.

Note: 'I'm home' and 'Leaving home' are both ready-made personal routines that don't use presence sensing. To create household routines that start when everyone's away or when someone comes home, set up Home and Away routines.

Examples

Some examples of personal routines:

• Starter: Say “Hey Google, let’s go home”.
• Action: Google Assistant gives a traffic update, reads your texts and plays a podcast.
• Starter: Say “Hey Google, bedtime”.
• Action: Google Assistant sets an alarm, turns off the lights and plays sleep sounds.
• Starter: You dismiss your morning alarm.
• Action: Google Assistant tells you about events on your calendar, the day’s weather and your commute to work.

Create a household routine

1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Home app .
2. On the home screen , tap Routines New Household.
3. Add at least one starter and one action.
4. If your routine is set to start automatically and it includes audio actions, select the audio device:
   1. At the bottom, tap No device for audio.
   2. Select the device.
   3. Tap Save.
5. At the bottom, tap Save.

Examples

You can create a household routine to:

• Turn a light, plug, camera or switch on or off at a specific time every day.
• Set your smart lights' brightness and colour when the TV turns on.
• Turn on the entrance light when a motion sensor detects motion, or turn off your lights when no motion is detected for 10 minutes.
• If the doorbell rings in the evening, turn on the porch lights and set the light brightness to 75%.

Note: Home and Away routines have different setup steps than other household routines.

Learn how to set up Home and Away routines.

Manage routines

Edit a routine

1. On your phone or tablet, open the Google Home app .
2. On the home screen, tap Routines .
3. Select the routine that you want to edit.
4. Edit your routine:
   • To edit a starter or an action: Tap it.
   • To add a voice command starter: Tap Add starter When I say to my Assistant.
   • To add a non-voice command starter: Tap Add starter a non-voice starter.
   • To add an action: Tap Add action.
5. At the bottom right, tap Save.

Create a shortcut for a routine

You can add a shortcut on your home screen that you can tap to run your routine.

1. On your Android phone, open the Google Home app .
2. On the home screen, tap Routines .
3. Select the routine for which you want to create a shortcut.
4. At the top right, tap Create a home screen shortcut .
5. Follow the on-screen steps.

Pause a routine

If you don't want a routine to run for a period of time, you can turn it off temporarily.

1. On your Android phone, open the Google Home app .
2. On the home screen, tap Routines .
3. Select the routine that you want to pause.
4. At the top, turn off Activate routine.
5. At the bottom right, tap Save.

Note: Home and Away routines can't be paused, but you can turn off presence sensing so that they won't start automatically.

Delete a routine

Important: To stop a routine temporarily learn how to pause the routine.

1. On your Android phone, open the Google Home app .
2. On the home screen, tap Routines .
3. Select the routine that you want to delete.
4. At the top, tap Delete Delete routine.

Note: Once set up, Home and Away routines can't be deleted. However, you can turn off presence sensing and remove all device actions. Learn how to change Home and Away routines settings.

Learn about starters and actions for routines

Important: The starters and actions available for a routine depend on the type of routine, connected devices, settings and other limitations.

Ways to start a routine

You can start a routine when you set a “starter”. For example:

• Voice command: Start a routine when you say a custom voice command.
• Time: Start a routine automatically at the time and on the days that you choose.
• Sunrise or sunset: Start a routine automatically around sunrise or sunset for the days that you choose.
• When an alarm is dismissed: Start a routine when you dismiss an alarm on your speaker, smart display or in the Clock app.
• When a device does something: Start a routine when a device does something, like when a light turns on or a motion sensor detects motion.

• Presence sensing: Start a Home and Away routine when everyone’s away or when someone comes home. Learn more about presence sensing.

• Google Home app: Start a routine when you tap Play next to the name of the routine in the Google Home app.

Why a starter might be unavailable

A starter might not be available if:

• You haven’t set an address for your home. To use starters based on time, sunrise and sunset, and when someone arrives or leaves a home, you must set an address for your home.
• You already selected a non-voice starter. You can only select one non-voice starter for each routine.
• You haven’t connected a device that supports the starter. For example, to start a personal routine when you dismiss an alarm, you must have a speaker, smart display or Smart Clock that you can set an alarm on.
• You haven’t set up Home and Away routines. To start a routine when everyone’s away or when someone comes home, first set up Home and Away routines.

• It affects your safety or security. For example, you can’t use “unlock” to start a routine, but you can use “lock”.

Tip: Not all devices can be used as starters. Make sure that you add the device to the home for which you want to create a routine. 

Note: You can only use some devices as a starter. Make sure that you add the device to the home for which you're creating a routine.

Actions that you can add to a routine

You can have a routine:

• Adjust home devices: Turn on, turn off, or adjust smart home devices like lights, plugs, switches or thermostats.
• Play and control media: Play media like music, news, radio and podcasts.
• Get info and reminders: Get info like the weather, your commute, your calendar events and reminders.
• Communicate and announce: Broadcast messages and send and read texts.
• Adjust Google Assistant volume: Change the volume on your Google Assistant-enabled device.
• Adjust phone settings: For Android devices, adjust the phone volume, get a battery level notification, and turn Do Not Disturb on or off.
• Perform an action based on a command: Enter a command that works with Google Assistant. Find examples of commands:
  • What you can ask Google Assistant
  • Control smart lights and other devices
  • Add items to a shopping list
  • Listen to news or podcasts

Why an action might be unavailable

Some actions might not be available if:

• The action is only available for personal routines.
  • Actions that include personal results, like events from your calendar or your commute time.
  • Actions that might reveal personal information, like a broadcast to your home devices or reading a text message.
  • Actions that adjust phone settings, like phone volume and battery level notifications.
• You already added a media action. You can only add one media action for each routine.

• The action affects your safety or security. For example, “unlock” isn’t an available starter, but you can set “lock” as an action.

Tip: Some actions aren’t available because two-factor authentication is required.

Troubleshooting

Can't find routines in the Google Home app

If Routines doesn't appear on the home screen of the Google Home app, try the following.

Add a compatible device to your home in the Google Home app

To create routines in your home in the Google Home app, you first need to add a compatible smart device, such as a speaker, display or light.

• Add a Google Nest or Home speaker or display.
• Add a Seamless Setup smart device.
• Add other smart devices that work with Google.

If you don't have a compatible device to add in the Google Home app, you can still use Google Assistant on your phone or tablet to get help with your daily routines.

Switch your phone to a language that supports routines

Routines are only available in select regions and languages. To use routines in a supported region, switch your phone's default language to a supported language in that region.

• On most phones, you can change the language in the phone's Settings app. For more detailed instructions, check with your phone's manufacturer.
• The Google Home app may take up to 12 hours to update after you change the language.

Can't find a device in routines starters and actions

If you can't find a device in the available starters and actions for a routine, check that the device is in the same home that you're using for the routine:

1. In the Google Home app , go to the home screen .
2. At the top, check that you're using the desired home for the routine scroll down find the device.
3. If the device is in 'Local devices' instead of a room, the device is in a different home.
   1. To move the device to another home, touch and hold the device's tile tap Settings .
   2. Tap Device information Home the name of the home that you're using for the routine.

Note: If your device is in the correct home and isn't included in starters and actions, the device might not be supported for routines at this time.

Available languages by region

Personal routines

Country or region	Supported languages
Argentina	Spanish
Australia	English
Belgium	English, French, German, Dutch
Brazil	Portuguese (Brazil)
Canada	English, French (Canada)
Chile	Spanish
Colombia	Spanish
Denmark	Danish
Egypt	Arabic
France	French
Germany	German
India	English, Hindi
Indonesia	Indonesian
Italy	Italian
Japan	Japanese
Korea	Korean
Mexico	Spanish
Netherlands	Dutch
Norway	Norwegian, Norwegian Bokmal
Peru	Spanish
Poland	Polish
Saudi Arabia	Arabic
Singapore	English
Spain	Spanish
Sweden	Swedish
Taiwan	Mandarin (Taiwan)
United Kingdom	English
United States	English, Spanish

Household routines

Country or region	Supported languages
Argentina	Spanish
Australia	English
Belgium	English, French, German, Dutch
Brazil	Portuguese (Brazil)
Canada	English, French (Canada)
Chile	Spanish
Colombia	Spanish
Denmark	Danish
France	French
Germany	German
India	English, Hindi
Italy	Italian
Japan	Japanese
Korea	Korean
Mexico	Spanish
Netherlands	Dutch
Norway	Norwegian, Norwegian Bokmal
Peru	Spanish
Singapore	English
Spain	Spanish
Sweden	Swedish
Taiwan	Mandarin (Taiwan)
United Kingdom	English
United States	English, Spanish