How to Set Up Google Home Routines

Google Home Routines let you trigger multiple smart home actions with a single command — like "Good morning" turning on lights, starting coffee, and reading the news.

In this guide (5 steps):

1.Open Google Home and Find Routines
2.Edit an Existing Routine
3.Create a New Routine
4.Add Smart Home Actions
5.Test Your Routine

Open Google Home and Find Routines

~18s

Open the Google Home app on your phone. Tap the "Automations" tab at the bottom (or tap the "+" and then "Routines" depending on your app version). You'll see pre-built starter routines like "Good morning," "Leaving home," "Arriving home," "Bedtime," and "Good night." Tap any to see and edit its current settings.

Edit an Existing Routine

~24s

Tap a starter routine, like "Good morning." You'll see "When this happens" (the trigger) and "Do these things" (the actions). Tap a trigger to change the command phrase, set a schedule time, or add multiple triggers. Tap "Add action" to add new things the routine does.

Quick Tip

The "Good morning" routine is a great starting point — add an action to "Get information about today" which reads your weather and first calendar event.

Create a New Routine

~17s

Tap "New Routine" (+ button). First, set the trigger: a voice command ("Hey Google, movie time"), a schedule (every day at 7:00 AM), or a smart home event (when you arrive home via phone location). Then add actions: tap "Add action" → browse categories (Adjust devices, Play/pause media, Get information, etc.).

Add Smart Home Actions

~15s

In "Add action" → "Adjust home devices" → choose the device and what to do (turn on, set to 50% brightness, set thermostat to 70°F, etc.). Add multiple device actions in the same routine. They all execute simultaneously when the routine triggers.

Test Your Routine

~24s

Say the trigger phrase to your Google speaker: "Hey Google, Good morning." All the actions should execute in sequence. If something doesn't work, go back to the routine in Google Home app → check if that device is correctly linked to Google Home and shows as connected.

Warning

Make sure all smart devices in your routine are set up in Google Home first. A routine can't control a device that isn't added to your Google Home.

You Did It!

You've completed: How to Set Up Google Home Routines

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Google Home Routines let you chain multiple smart home actions together and trigger them with a single voice command, a tap, or a schedule. Instead of saying five separate commands, you say one — and everything happens at once.

For example, a "Good Morning" routine could: turn on specific lights, set the thermostat to 72°F, play the news from NPR, and tell you today's weather and calendar — all when you say "Hey Google, Good morning."

A "Bedtime" routine could: dim and turn off all lights, lock smart locks, lower the thermostat, and play sleep sounds — triggered when you say "Hey Google, bedtime" or automatically at 10 PM.

Google Home comes with several starter routines, but they're fully customizable. You can create new routines from scratch, change the trigger words, add or remove actions, and set schedules.

Routines work through the Google Home app on your phone. You don't need to set them up on the Google device itself. Any Google Home or Nest speaker in your home can trigger routines by voice.

Routines can include actions for: lights (on/off, brightness, color), thermostats (temperature, mode), media (music, news, podcasts, radio stations), announcements to all Google speakers, smart locks, smart plugs and switches, TV controls (if you have Chromecast), and reading out information (weather, traffic, calendar events).

This is one of the highest-value features of a Google Home ecosystem — the investment in smart home devices pays off more when you use routines to automate the most repetitive daily interactions.

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