Turning off your lights without hearing from your Google Home

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7/24/19

Turning off your lights without hearing from your Google Home 0 Recommended Answers 109 Replies 505 Upvotes

Last edited 7/25/19

Hello Google Nest Community,

Anyone who has a Google Home and smart lights knows the drill:

You, about to fall asleep: “Ok Google, turn off the bedroom lights”.
Google Home responds, a bit louder than you’d like: “Ok, turning off 2 lights”.
You, now wide awake, but at least the lights are off.

Well, we heard you, and we listened. Now, if your Google Home or Nest Hub device is in the same room as your smart home lights, instead of responding with, “Ok, turning off 2 lights” it will simply ‘chime’ to let you know it’s turning off the lights.

This change will not only work for lights, but also for switches and plugs which are identified as lights. For example, if your desk lamp is connected to a smart plug called “desk lamp” then this new feature will apply; but, if the plug is just called “desk” the Assistant will give a full response. This will also apply to all of the light commands you’ve gotten used to, like increasing the brightness, dimming the lights and much more.

We’re currently rolling this feature out, and will update this post once we can confirm it’s available for everyone.

Thanks,

Rachel

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Mark 102

7/24/19

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I can confirm this is working for me. I just discovered this a bit ago, so had to come check the forum. I have 5 devices, and it just affects the lights for that room. Just a single soft chime. If I ask to turn off/on a light in a different room, then it gives the usual response. I really didn't mind the response, but this is kind of cool. Should make a lot of people happy.

Last edited 7/25/19

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Rafa Ramírez

7/24/19

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Is this going to work in other languages at launch? Many features are English only, for example saying Stop for alarms and timers, and sometimes it makes no sense.

On the other hand, why only when turning off and not also when turning on??

Thanks!

Last edited 7/25/19

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User 10169933674664391897

7/24/19

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Fantastic surprise yesterday. Thank you!

Last edited 7/26/19

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Gold Product Expert ScottG_TC

7/24/19

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Great new feature. Thank you

Last edited 7/25/19

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Patrick Lagana

7/24/19

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Still waiting for this to roll out in Australia...

Last edited 7/25/19

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David R. 3747

7/24/19

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But why "if your Google Home or Nest Hub device is in the same room as your smart home lights"? I mean, my GH is in my living room and when I go to bed I ask him to turn off all the lights, I don't want him to shout that he is OK with that, no matter where is the light and where is the GH. I'm sorry, it's a cool feature but I really don't understand why you added this limitation.

Last edited 7/24/19

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Christophe Romana

7/24/19

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But Whyyyyy ?
if (device.name.contains("lamp"))
chime()
else
doDatNoisyResponse()

I don't understand the limitation to just one room. What can explain that choice?

Last edited 7/24/19

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goober

7/24/19

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Agreed there shoud just be a "response" on/off function. I personally never want a response from anything, I can see the things going on and off when I'm there!

Last edited 7/25/19

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Arkieguy

7/24/19

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A lot of people (like me) have multiple devices. Google added the capability for "current room" controls ("turn off the lights" - which defaults to the current room). It makes sense not to make an announcemen in that case.

While maybe not perfect for some, I think it's a great enhancement.

Last edited 7/25/19

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Shaney Oi

1 day

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My lights and devices chime in my living room, but still talk in every other room. It's incredibly annoying.

I live in a unit and Google can hear me from every room, yet because the speaker is in the living room, it only chimes for that one room and babbles for all the others. I don't need, let alone want a speaker in every room. Also, why should it even matter? It's only a confirmation and If we can hear the chime, we can hear the babble no matter what room we are in. It makes no sense.

There should be an option to decide between the chime and annoying talk-back, although I really don't know who would want to hear "okay, I'll turn X on/off for you now" every single time. It's like some cheesy gimmick from the 80's and wears thin within the first hour. In practical use, it can be infuriating.

I've had to put my entire home under "living room" just so that nonsense reply to each and every command stops. Except now, I can't control each room set individually. It took 2 years for this basic feature to roll out, and it still isn't utilised logically.

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