Make Your Google Home Automatically Quiet at Night Using This Mode
The Google Home Max in our living room is great for resolving disputes, from the correct pronunciation of the ciabatta to when some of our favorite shows are about to return from winter break, but it’s loud. Very loud.
I like it when the volume is turned up so that we can shout to questions (and hear the answers) from the kitchen next door, but at night, when we are sitting on the couch in front of this Max, there can be too many answers.
We already have a constant volume at 50%, but this week a CNET article pointed out a feature that works even better: night mode. I overlooked the Night Mode speaker settings somehow, but it’s fantastic.
With it, you can specify a specific time when you want the speaker volume to be lower. That way, I can set Night Mode to turn on at about 9pm, when we usually stand in front of the TV (and this speaker), and return to normal at about 7am, when we usually get ready for a new day.
The bonus for me is that I don’t have to manually tell Google to calm down, only to realize that she’s too quiet to hear the next day when I ask a question from afar. This feature can also come in handy if your speaker is near your child’s room and you don’t want to risk accidentally waking up late at night, or if you tend to ask Google questions after other people in your family have gone to sleep at night.
To access it, open the Home app and tap on the speaker on which you want to set night mode. On the presenter page, tap the gear icon in the upper right corner and then choose Night Mode from the next generation of options. Turn on this feature to open a calendar where you can schedule days and hours to keep Google quieter than usual. You can set the maximum speaker volume to the setting that’s ideal for you, and also adjust the brightness of your device’s LCD if you’re using the Google Home Hub.
Also on this page you will see the Do Not Disturb feature. This will block sounds for reminders, broadcasts, and other notifications on the speaker while Night Mode is on. Turn this on / off based on your preference.
Once you set it up, your Google Home will adjust the volume according to your personal preference, so you no longer have to handle things manually, or, in my case, you will be intimidated by the loudspeaker next to your head.