On November 4, 2016, Google unveiled the Google Home products to the world. Since then, Google has amassed a total of 52 million units sold worldwide and fully integrated their devices into our home.
Since the release of the product, Google has been working tirelessly to make the Google Home suite as simple and integrated as possible, with some pretty unique and fun tools!
Below, we will cover 5 Google Home tips to help you get the most out of your Google Home devices!
Top 5 Google Home Tips
Morning Routines
Straight out of the box, the Google Home comes equipped with a fantastic morning routine that will, in this order.
- Greet you by your allocated name and say good morning and tell you the time (or evening if you activate it then!).
- Show and tell you today’s weather forecast for your local area.
- play you the latest local news report using the Google player.
As well as this basic plug-and-play routine, you can also customize your morning routine from the Google Home App through the Manage Routines section.
This allows you to edit the logic behind the routine, with the ability to manage the voice command used to trigger the routine, the first action Google will take, followed by what it will play last.
If you wanted, you could shout “I’m Awake” as you rise and have Google tell you you’re handsome (no, really.) followed by your best morning playlist!
Animal Noises
If you have children, or you’re just a curious person yourself, you can ask your Google Home what noise pretty much any animal make and it will play you a snippet of the chosen animals noise accompanied by a beautiful image and the Latin name for the creature!
Voice-activated home security
What was once only featured in ’80s sci-fi movies is now a standard feature with the Google Home. Google supports over one hundred WiFi-based home security systems and allows you to set up a ‘Leaving the house’ routine from the comfort of your smartphone.
This futuristic feature allows you to trigger the following when you notify Google that you’re leaving your home.
- Turn off all your WiFi-enabled plug sockets
- Lower your thermostat
- Set your Alarm System
- Lock your WiFi-enabled doors
You can also reverse this routine with an ‘I’m home routine’!
Help me find my phone!
The days of people misplacing their smartphones in their house are almost gone as most of us have them glued to our hips at all times, but when you do lose your phone it can be a real pain to locate as most people have their phone on silent. Well luckily for Google users, the Google Home can bypass the silent feature on your phone and make your phone scream out to you when you ask “Help me find my phone!”.
The feature activates more of a persistent notification rather than a phone call as the caller ID is ‘Google Play Services’ and it leaves no trace in your call log!
Can you grab that for me?
Our final tip for using your extremely advanced piece of technology? Broadcasting messages around your home!
Sometimes a text message doesn’t quite cut it and the situation calls for a female android voice to get your point across. Stuck in the bathroom with no toilet paper? Broadcast. What to creep your children out by making an android tell them off for arguing? Broadcast.
For such a simple and basic feature, a lot of fun can be had with the Google Home Broadcast feature!
The Google Home is a fantastic product range to invest in, and one that can bring a lot of efficiency to your life – you may even forget that we are welcoming the AI dominated future into our homes at will, but don’t ask Google, she will just deny it! Hope you enjoyed our Google Home Tips – if you have any others leave them in the comments!
