In today's world of Smart assistants, having one at your table can come handy, hence it's really important to use them at their full potential. Smart Assistants, like Google Home, have a list of pre-made commands which can do tasks such as play music, read the daily news, control your smart home gadgets, set reminders for picking up groceries, etc. However, with a little tweaking, you can create your own custom commands which will do several things at the same time and will save a lot of time.

Why you'd Want to Use Routines?

While smart gadgets are often useful for tons of things, there is nothing quite like the convenience of switching off your bedroom light from under the covers because they’re often complicated, and require very specific set of voice commands to work more accurately.Routines allow you to simplify the commands you use on a daily basis, pile up multiple commands together, and even automatically perform certain actions based on the time of day. Rather than saying, “OK, Google. turn off the bedroom lights, pull the curtains and play the ambient music,” and hoping that Google Assistant correctly processes those three different commands, you can say “OK, Google, Good night” and figure out the rest. Google Home comes with a couple of pre-made routines to get you started with, but we’ll rehearse the way to create your own custom routine so you will be able to make your smart speaker behave in the way you would like it to.

What you can Do With Routines?

Google’s preset routines specialise in things like your daily morning or evening routine, because those are fairly usual tasks that anyone will do. But they are also not very creative or full of imagination. If you’re having trouble seeing why you’d want to travel to the fuss of building your own custom routine, here are a couple of ideas which will help you get you started:

• Make long, complicated commands easier. Philips Hue lights allow you to create custom colour profiles, from bright saturated colour themes to soft, warm lighting for reading. But using commands like “Set my bed room to Relax” is awkward and it requires you to memorise tons of scene names. Rather, create a routine with the command “Reading time” and program it to automatically set the proper lighting profile you like while reading, and play some soft music while you’re at it.
• Get ready for a movie. When it’s time to watch a movie—something you almost certainly do plenty of at home these days—you got to turn the lights down low, switch on the TV, and perhaps activate your TV’s backlight. The routine followed in movie theatres of playing a few trailers before dimming the lights really helps you get into the mood to watch a movie, and it’s something you will definitely be able to replicate with routines in your own house.
• Block out distractions. Your smart home gadgets aren’t the sole thing a Google Home can control. It also can turn your phone on silent mode, which may be handy for work or study sessions. Create a focus routine which will mute your phone and begin playing some lo-fi beats to do work.With a bit of imagination, you'll be figure out what really works for you.

How to set Up a Routine?

Routines are often found inside the Google Home app. You almost certainly used this to line up your Google devices initially, and you'll be able to integrate plenty of other smart home gadgets in this one app. After opening the Google Home app, tap on your profile picture in the upper right corner and click on the Assistant Settings option, and then Routines option.From here, you've got two options. First, you'll be able to explore the ready-made routines. These are the suggested routines that aren’t active yet but are common in our daily lives. These include routines for getting up in the morning, getting to bed, leaving or returning home, and commuting to or from work.

These routines are often activated using multiple commands. For instance , the “Good morning” routine is usually activated by saying “Good morning,” “How's my day like,” or maybe “Let's get started.” It offers a vast list of already made action commands that can trigger like telling you about the weather outside, telling your To-do list for the day, and reading off any reminders.At the top of the screen, you'll be able to tap Add a Routine to make your own. Once you do so, you’ll have a couple of options to enter:

• Add commands: Here, you’ll need to enter the words which will activate the routine. You'll be able to add several different commands or variations of the phrase, so you’re not stuck trying to recollect the precise phrasing. Don't forget the fact that these commands can override other commands that your smart assistant knows, so be careful and try not to use existing commands like “Good morning,” unless you’re really comfortable capturing those phrases for your personal use.
• Set a time and day: Optionally, you'll be able to activate your routine automatically at a particular day and time. You can set this schedule to repeat on certain days, every weekday, or on any other schedule you like. If you’d rather only activate the routine once you require it, you can skip this step.
• Add action: You'll be able to browse popular actions on the app, like casting a message to other speakers, switching lights on or off, or reading out the daily news, to add them to a list. You'll also enter your own actions by writing any valid Google Home command.

Once you are done with all these steps, you can save your routine and try it out on your Google Home. Just say “OK Google” and the voice command that you programmed in your device. But keep in mind that if you have multiple people in your household who use Voice Match function, some commands that return personal information may react differently or may not work at all for other people in your house.

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