Smart & Connected Life Smart Home How to Set Up Google Home Routines Unlock your smart speaker's most powerful feature by Amanda Derrick Freelance Contributor Amanda Derrick is a mechanical engineer, business strategist, and former Lifewire writer who has also written for USAF Civil Service, ATK, and Boeing. our editorial process Twitter LinkedIn Amanda Derrick Updated on December 01, 2020 Tweet Share Email Smart Home Google Your Best Year Ever: College Tech Tips Amazon Appliances & Lighting Using a Google speaker as an ever-present assistant or as a buddy to play games with is all well and good. But, to do more with your smart speaker, create routines to run several tasks with a single command. Routines are easy to create. What Is a Google Home Routine? A Google Home routine is a set of actions that a Google Home device controls with a single command. Google Assistant has six built-in routines waiting for you. These routines are: Good morningBedtimeLeaving homeI'm homeCommuting to workCommuting home Each of these ready-made routines can be customized. Within each routine, you'll find a set of parameters that you can edit: When I say: Sets a trigger word or phrase for the routine.The Google Assistant should: Assigns the tasks to be completed with the verbal cue.And then play: Plays music along with the task. How to Create Custom Google Routines If the ready-made routines aren't what you want, create custom routines. Here's how: Open the Google Assistant app. Select your Profile icon in the upper-right corner to open the user menu. Select the Assistant tab under your user name. Select Routines to open the Routines menu. Select the Blue + icon in the lower-right corner to create a new routine. Under When I say, choose a voice command to start the routine. You can also treat it as an alarm, setting it to start the routine on a certain day at a specific time. Under The Google Assistant should, select Add Action. This gives you the option of adding a custom action. Alternatively, select popular actions to choose options from a list. The list suggests things like lights, plugs, weather reports, commute information, and other actions. If you select from the list, you can customize a choice by choosing the Settings Gear (where available), and then selecting Add in the upper-right corner after making your choices. Under And then play, select Add Media. A screen displays where you select the media you want to play during this routine. Some options include: Music: Uses the default music player that you set for Google Assistant. To change this setting, select the blue link default music service when selecting the music for the routine.News: Provides several major news outlets that you can prioritize by your level of interest.Radio: Tunes the media selection using a radio station call sign.Podcasts: Either continues the last podcast you played or plays the latest episode of a specific podcast.Audiobook: Plays and accepts voice-control for audiobooks from Google Play Books.Sleep sounds: Plays a variety of white noise type sounds like rain or ocean waves. Select Add after selecting a media source and customizing the settings. When you finish adding actions and music, go back to the New Routine screen and select Save in the upper-right corner. The routine is added to your list of routines and is accessible when you say Hey Google and give the prompt you chose. A routine can be deleted from its edit screen. Instead of tapping to save, tap the blue trash can icon to delete the routine. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit