Even though a significant update to the Google Home app is on the way in the next few months, users may already access a whole new level of automation thanks to the company. Some users of the Google Home app have reported this week that Assistant routines now respond to device triggers.
Routines that employ Google Assistant have been available in the Home app for some time, but until recently, they were primarily designed to be triggered by speaking to the device. The many smart home features, including lighting, temperature, and alarms, may all be controlled with a single word or phrase.
In addition to the hours of the day, sunrise and sunset, the action of turning off an alarm on some Google Assistant devices can kick off actions.
Now, you can automate even more Assistant activities with the use of device triggers thanks to updates to the Google Home app.
This feature was unveiled at the same time as Google’s revamped Home app earlier this month. However, the feature appears to have been released a little early on the existing Home app design for certain customers.
At least one user in France has reported seeing the feature become live on their account, and we have noticed the same thing happening to one user in the United Kingdom. Because we aren’t seeing the choice on our own devices just yet, we don’t know how widely it is being rolled out.
The Google Home app has a feature called “device triggers” that lets you link specific gadgets to specific Assistant commands. In order to have Google Assistant speakers declare that “the coffee maker was turned on,” for instance, one may activate a smart plug connected to a coffee machine.
It’s worth noting that at least one user who is able to see this new trigger option is part of the beta program but is still using the earlier version of the Home app on iOS (with the new design on Android). It’s conceivable that this feature still has to be unlocked in the beta.
I am now able to use devices to trigger Google Home routines! pic.twitter.com/t3PF1vn8Ze
— Sune H. Kuntz (@SuneKuntz) October 19, 2022
However, the same person reports not yet seeing support for sensors in this capability (which Google said will be a part of the new app), suggesting this is only an upgrade to the old Home app while we wait for the redesigned version.
Considering that the Alexa app from Amazon has had this capability for a long time, Google is clearly playing catch-up in the field of smart home automation. However, Google hopes to add a complete Script Editor for sophisticated automation to the Home app in the future, making it a formidable tool for automating tasks.