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Google Home automations are becoming significantly smarter thanks to a major update that broadens the core components of routines, offering users more precise control over their smart devices. If you depend on Google Home for managing lights, appliances, or security systems, this new rollout provides a whole new level of customization.
The update adds approximately 20 new starting conditions and actions within the Google Home app. Anish Kattukaran, Chief Product Officer for Google Home and Gemini for Home, announced on X that these enhancements will enable more detailed, flexible automation configurations.
At the core of this update are new triggers, conditions, and actions that allow routines to respond to real-time events in your home. You can now create routines based on media playback states such as playing, paused, or buffering, including specific volume or screen brightness levels.
This means automations can, for example, automatically dim the lights when a movie begins or behave differently if a TV is paused instead of actively streaming. Smart appliances also gain more intelligence, with routines able to check whether a washer or dryer is running, paused, stopped, or reporting an error, giving routines a newfound awareness.
The enhancements in actions are equally significant. Google Home can now control individual devices more precisely—turning devices on or off, arming security systems, opening or closing smart blinds, or managing robot vacuums by pausing, resuming, or sending them back to their dock.
Support for appliances like washers, dryers, and coffee makers has expanded to include start, stop, or pause commands, although support is still limited to certain models. While categories such as smart ovens, robot vacuums, and robot mops aren’t fully supported yet, more device types are expected to be added over time.
Additionally, smaller improvements have been implemented to boost user experience, like making it easier to provide feedback on AI-created automation descriptions, which are still in early testing phases.
Google indicates this is just the first wave of updates, with more automation features already in development. With the arrival of Gemini on Google’s smart home products, these enhancements empower users to craft routines with greater precision without adding complexity to the setup process.
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