10 Google Home Life Hacks Every Google Home User Should Know
Google Home is Google’s smart home platform that connects everything from Google smart speakers to lighting, outlets, locks, and other appliances throughout your home. Whether you just use the voice assistant and a smart bulb or a complex network of devices you want to automate, these hidden tips and tricks are worth considering to make your smart home work for you.
Turn on night mode to prevent your devices from waking people up.
Google speakers and displays feature a night mode that reduces volume and dims display lights during set “quiet periods,” so you can continue using your voice assistant without disturbing your privacy or waking sleeping children. In the Google Home app, tap Home > All Devices and long-press your device icon. Tap Settings > Notifications & Digital Wellbeing > Night Mode and turn on Night Mode . Here, you can choose the start and end times for the quiet periods, as well as the days of the week when Night Mode will be active.
Use guest mode to keep your profile hidden from visitors’ requests.
If you have guests over for dinner or are staying for an extended period, you might want them to be able to interact with your smart speakers and displays without affecting your voice assistant’s algorithm or infringing on your privacy. When you enable Guest Mode, Google automatically deletes voice assistant recordings and actions and disables private results, such as information collected from your Gmail and Google Calendar. This prevents others from requesting sensitive information—such as calendar events, contacts, and reminders—from your device. You can still control your smart home, play media, and access your voice assistant in Guest Mode. To turn this setting on or off on a specific device, simply say, “Hey Google, turn Guest Mode on/off.”
Specify contact persons in your family so that any family member can use your speaker to call for help.
Your smart speaker comes in handy for hands-free calling, and you can set up family contacts so anyone—including kids, babysitters, and guests—can reach important numbers, even if they don’t have voice recognition set up. All they need to do is say, “Hey Google, call [name or nickname]” to make a call. You can add emergency contacts when you’re away, or simply make it easier for those at home to call numbers they don’t remember. In the Google Home app, tap your profile icon, then go to Home Settings > Communications > Family Contacts . You can tap “Add a contact” if you haven’t already added a contact.
Please note that in an emergency, you won’t be able to call 911 directly using a voice command on your smart speaker. However, if you have a Google Home Premium subscription and have sound recognition enabled on your speakers or displays, you can set up an emergency call feature that will allow you to contact 911 from your phone if a smoke, carbon monoxide, or glass break alarm is triggered.
Use your speaker as a memory stick to help you remember things you often lose.
If you often wonder where you put that random item you thought you’d remember but can’t find, you can offload the mental workload to Google Home. Your speaker can keep a voice note and repeat the information back to you later. This is especially useful for tracking seasonal items (like holiday decorations), remembering where you keep important documents or various tools for home projects, or simply keeping track of keys and wallets. Use a command like “Hey Google, remember this…” to add items to your list.
Use device state triggers to create automated movie viewing experiences in the cinema.
If your media player or smart TV and lights are connected to Google Home, you can set up an automation that turns your living room into a home theater—dimming the lights and closing the blinds as soon as you turn on the TV or press play. In the Google Home app, go to the Automation tab and tap Add > Add Trigger . Select When a device does something , select your smart TV or speaker, then choose the state you want to use as a trigger (for example, when the TV turns on or a device is in mute/unmute mode). Tap Add Action > Set up home devices , select your lights and/or blinds, and set the desired brightness or closing time. Name the routine and tap Save , then make sure the routine is turned on.
Set up visual alerts when your washing machine or dishwasher is finished.
Another way to use state-based automation is to set up a speaker or lighting to announce the completion of another appliance’s task. For example, while in your home office, you could set your smart light bulbs to blink after the laundry cycle finishes, letting you know it’s time to put your clothes in the dryer. To do this, follow the same process as above: go to Automation > Add > Home > Add Initial Action > When a Device Does Something . First, select your smart appliance, then select “Stops” or “Completed.” Then, tap “Add Action” > “Visual Cue” or “Audible Announcement.” You can also add conditions if you want the automation to run only during certain hours (for example, to prevent your speaker from waking people up at night).
Sync your lights and alarms for a gentler wake-up experience.
Loud alarms are a frustrating way to start the morning, but if you have smart lights and a Google speaker or display, you can enable the “Gentle Sleep & Wake” feature, which gradually increases the brightness of your lights over the 30 minutes before your alarm goes off. Several voice commands are available for “Gentle Sleep & Wake,” depending on how many lights are on, and you can sync it with your alarm clock (we recommend choosing a softer, ambient sound) so that the light program starts whenever you set an alarm. If you have a Nest display, you can also go to Alarms > Set Alarm , turn on “Dawn Alarm,” and customize the lights, timeline, and sounds for your wake-up program.
Ask Gemini to create automated if/then scenarios using natural language.
Creating automations manually can be tedious, and you might not even know what your smart devices are capable of. But if you have a Google Home Premium subscription and enabled Gemini for Home, you can simply describe what you want your devices to do, and the AI will create a scene for you. The “Help Me Create” feature works with natural language prompts and can also suggest automations based on what you have in the Google Home app. Go to “Add” > “Automations” > “Help Me Create” and speak or type your command. Tap “Create” and follow the prompts to set up or save the automation.
Contact Gemini to analyze camera footage for troubleshooting purposes.
Instead of sifting through hours of Nest video to figure out what’s happening in and around your home, you can ask Gemini to search your video history and provide a summary based on your request. This is useful for everyday events, such as finding out what time your dog walker typically arrives and leaves, though you can also ask questions like, “Did something eat my plants?” to identify which animals are destroying your garden and take appropriate action. The “Ask Home” feature is part of Gemini for Home and is available to subscribers of the Google Home Premium Advanced plan.
Use privacy settings and commands to prevent your posts from being saved.
Connected smart home devices inherently pose privacy risks, but you can at least prevent Google from storing voice recordings collected through your speaker or display. In your Google account, go to “Data & Privacy” > “Web & App Activity” and uncheck “Include voice and audio activity.” Google also recently updated its privacy settings for Search, so you can change data access under “Search History” and “Personalized Recommendations.” You can also ask the voice assistant to delete your last words or actions over a certain period of time with commands like, “Hey Google, that wasn’t for you.”