Best Google Assistant Skills to Use With Your Google Home
Google may be catching up with Amazon Echo, but Google Home already has a number of third-party services that can add features to your smart home speaker. Some of them are junk, but we’ve found the best ones for you to try.
How Google Home Services Work
Most of Google Home’s third-party applications, called “services,” are slightly different from those on other devices. For starters, there is nothing to install and enable. In Amazon Echo, you need to activate the “skills” you want to use , but in Google Home, they are all enabled by default. If your Home is set up, you can immediately start a conversation from any of these services using the correct keyword. While you don’t need to turn them on, you can find the list in the Google Home app . To find it, click the menu button in the upper left corner, click Advanced Settings and then Services. Here you will find a list of services that you can try. Tap one for a description and some example commands you can use.
Some services are built right into Google Home, like Philips Hue lights , but most third-party services come from external bots. Google treats them as separate conversations. For example, let’s say you want to add an item to your Todoist lists . You start off by saying, “Ok Google, tell Todoist to add a ‘buy groceries’ task.” The Google Assistant says, “Sure, here’s Todoist,” and hands you over to the Todoist chatbot. He has a different voice and a completely different set of voice commands. If you want to ask Google to do something unrelated to your to-do list, you first need to end your conversation with Todoist.
This may seem a little confusing at first, but imagine having your phone operator put you in touch with the person you need to talk to. Instead of ordering pizza for you or recording your chores directly, Google Assistant finds the right person to help you order pizza or manage your business. Instead of one assistant, you have dozens.
Control your home with built-in smart home services
If you have smart home gadgets in your home, Google Home goes from being a convenient gadget in your living room to magic. Google has made it a priority to work with a number of smart gadgets out of the box, so you can turn on lights or change the temperature without talking to a third-party bot. Here are the devices that Google Home can control directly:
- Chromecast : Chromecast is an unexpected success, so it should come as no surprise that Google Home supports it. You can use commands like “Ok Google, play YouTube on my Chromecast” and it will start playing the video on your TV. You can play, pause, or find other videos using voice commands from apps like YouTube, Netflix, or Play Movies.
- Philips Hue : Google Home can turn lights on and off individually, or group multiple lights into “scenes”. You can adjust the brightness or change the color (if your bulbs support it).
- Nest : The Nest thermostat allows you to precisely control the temperature of your home with a number, or you can simply say “make it cooler” to decrease the temperature even if you don’t know what the temperature is. You can also ask what temperature is set right now.
- SmartThings : Samsung’s SmartThings product line has the most robust integration with Google Home. You can add devices to “rooms” that you can control with a single command. You can turn lights, switches and sockets on and off, and adjust the thermostat. Unfortunately, Google Home does not yet support Samsung garage door openers, sirens and cameras.
- Belkin WeMo : As with Samsung, you can use Google Home to control WeMo switches and outlets. You can turn them on and off or, if the switch supports it, dim the lights with a voice command. You might even ask, “Did I leave the bedroom light on?” to see if you’ve forgotten to turn off a particular light.
- Honeywell : While Google Home launched with Nest support, it recently added support for Honeywell thermostats as well. As with the Nest, you can adjust the temperature up and down, or find out what it’s currently set to.
To use any of these devices, open the Google Home app, tap the menu button in the upper left corner, and tap Home Control. Here you can add your devices and log into your accounts if necessary. After adding each device, you can start managing it from Google Home.
Some of these services, such as Philips Hue, SmartThings and Nest, can even be controlled using Google Assistant on your phone. So, if you own a Pixel or turn on the Assistant yourself , you can use some, but not all, of the same commands, even if you are away from the speaker.
AutoVoice brings the power of Tasker to your living room
Tasker on Android is one of the most powerful customization tools out there. Combined with the AutoVoice plugin, you can use it to create a custom voice command for just about anything . This plugin is now available as aservice on Google Home . You can use it to create custom commands to control your phone, or do anything else you can do with Tasker. To use it, you need to connect AutoVoice to your Google account in the Google Home app.
The video above shows a few examples of what is possible with this powerful combination. You can make Google Home read your phone’s notifications and reply to your messages, play videos in Kodi , track packages, or find out where your significant other is (if you’re using location apps). To show off, the developer has added sound clips from The Simpsons to the commands to respond to various commands, demonstrating how much control you can over voice commands with AutoVoice.
Keep track of your to-do list with Todoist
Todoist is one of the few to-do list apps that you can manage directly from Google Home (or Amazon Echo for that matter). For most other to-do list apps, you’ll need to use services like IFTTT as a workaround, but Todoist has made sure it’s available on both . You can use it to add tasks, check what’s on your to-do list, or mark items as completed. You can also talk to Todoist as a chatbot on Allo if you like , although it’s probably easier to just use the Todoist app if you’re going to get your hands on your phone anyway.
Although Todoist is included with Google Home by default, you need to connect your account to the Google Home app before it can access your lists. Open the Google Home app, tap the menu icon in the upper left corner, tap More Settings, then Services. Find Todoist in the list and link your account from there.
Get a Taxi with Uber
If you need to call a taxi to your home, you can ask Google Home to connect you to Uber. You can use it to request a ride, ask where your trip is, or cancel if you decide you don’t need it. Google Home does not support its main rival Uber Lyft at this time, so if you prefer a pink mustache, you might have to wait a bit. Once again, you will need to connect your Uber account in the Google Home app.
Use Wonder to remember important information
The miracle is like an endless virtual note that lives in your Google Home speaker. Ask him to remember something and you can call that later. For example, you can tell Wonder, “Remember, my Wi-Fi password is a very good password.” Then, the next time you need to remember your password, say, “Ok Google, ask me, I wonder what my password is.” Google will then ask Wonder to repeat your password.
While this is probably not the best way to store important information like your social security number, you can use it for minor things like your friends’ birthdays or your apartment exit code. Wonder also works with Facebook Messenger and Amazon Alexa, so you can access your information even when you’re away from your Google Home. Conveniently, Wonder doesn’t need to log into any account to save your information, so you can start asking him to remember things once your Home is set up.
Create commands to use on your phone or Google Home with IFTTT
Google Assistant has an IFTTT channel that you can use to build some pretty powerful commands. You can use simple command phrases such as “good night” to turn off all lights, or use text and numeric variables to create more complex commands. For example, you can say “ Tell Slack I’m late, ” and the team will understand that “I’m late” is the text they should send to the Slack channel you specified.
This channel allows you to fill in a lot of functionality gaps that Home might have out of the box. For example, Google Home doesn’t allow you to add events to your Google calendar (for some reason), but you can customize the IFTTT command to do this. It might be a little awkward because of what you think it should already do, but at least you have the option. Best of all, the applets you create with IFTTT work on your phone, as well as on Google Home if you have Google Assistant enabled, so you’re not tied to a speaker in your home.