INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Back at Google I/O, Google announced two new features for Google Assistant: custom routines and schedules — both focusing on automating
things you do regularly, but in different ways.
The first lets you trigger multiple commands with a single custom phrase — like saying
&Hey Google, I&m awake& to unsilence your phone, turn on the lights and read the news
Schedules, meanwhile, could trigger a series of commands at a specific time on specific days, without you needing to say a thing.
While
custom routines launched almost immediately after I/O, scheduling has been curiously absent
It starting to roll out today.
As first noticed by DroidLife, it looks like scheduling has started rolling out to users by way of the Google
Home app.
To make a schedule:
Open the Google Home app
Go to Settings>Routines
Create a new routine with the + button
Scroll to the &Set a
time and day& option to schedule things ahead of time
If you don''t see the ''time and day& option yet, check back in a day or two
Google is rolling it out over the next few days (generally done in case there some bug it missed), so it might pop up without much
fanfare.
Want your bedroom lights to turn on every morning at 7 am on workdays You can do that
Want that song from the Six Flags commercials to play every day at noon to get you over the hump and/or drive your roommates up a wall Sure!
Want to double-check the door lock, dim the downstairs lights and make sure your entertainment center is off at 2 am If you&ve got all the
smart home hardware required, it should be able to handle it.
While a lot of things you might use Google Assistant for can already be
scheduled through their respective third-party apps (most smart lights, for example, have apps with built-in scheduling options), this moves
to bring everything under one roof while letting you fire off more complicated sequences all at once
And if something breaks You&ll know where to look.
