How to Set a Music Alarm Using Your Google Home Speaker
Waking up in the morning to your favorite music is much more pleasant than to the sound of an alarm clock. If you have a Google Home speaker, it’s easy to get it to play a song or artist that will really get you out of bed.
In fact, all you have to do to get started is swipe the voice command to your Google Home speaker. Of course, there are several ways to frame your request, depending on how you want to wake up:
- For a specific band or musician, say, “Ok Google, set an alarm for [time and day] that [band or musician name] is playing.”
- For a specific song or playlist, say, “Ok Google, set a media alarm for [time and day].” Your assistant will ask you what you want to play, and you can reply with a song, artist, or playlist name.
- For a radio alarm, say, “Ok Google, set [station name] radio alarm for [time and day].”
- For a specific genre, say, “Ok Google, set [genre] music alarm to [time and day].”
You can also set a recurring alarm by saying “every day” instead of a specific day. And to turn off the alarm immediately, just say Stop. If you let the music play for more than a few seconds, you will have to use the usual “Hey Google” command to silence it. By default, the alarm goes off for 10 minutes, unless you snooze or turn it off.
How to link your favorite streaming service to Google Home
These commands work with any music streaming service you’ve already linked to your Google Home app, like Spotify or Google Play Music. You don’t need to include the service name in your team unless you want your helper to use something other than your default provider.
To associate a music service or change the default settings, open the Google Home app and tap Add (+) in the upper left corner. Then tap Music & Audio> preferred service . Google Play Music and YouTube Premium are automatically linked to your app when you set up Google Home with your Google account, but you’ll need to use the app to link services like Spotify or Pandora.
Don’t use your favorite song as an alarm clock
It might sound like a good idea now, but using your favorite music as an alarm will probably make you hate it in a couple of weeks. You will also likely want to skip any sedatives that you will sleep through. Instead, choose something enjoyable that escalates into a thrilling climax, or torment yourself with music you really don’t like.
Whichever you choose, consider setting up a backup alarm that is independent of the smart speaker . If your Google Home can’t connect to Wi-Fi when your alarm is set on schedule, it will still play the general alarm, but that might not be enough to get you out of bed if you’re not used to it.
This story was originally published in 2018 by Jacob Kleinman and was updated on May 8, 2020 by Emily Long. We’ve updated the voice commands, added steps for linking music services, and clarified the language throughout.