Google Assistant: How to schedule lights, speakers, and other devices to turn on and off

Google has introduced a new way to activate and deactivate connected devices with its assistant: now it is possible to program them. In this way we can make them turn off or turn on by themselves after as long as we want: Google assistant takes care of everything.

Demotics has undergone a strong push thanks to virtual assistants because they facilitate the control of a huge number of devices. The speaker, the TV, we can control a light from a smart screen, from the computer and, of course, also from the mobile. And with programming, that Google Assistant now offers this possibility only with the voice.

Schedule on or off by voice

Applications that control connected objects tend to have automations: so a light can be turned off after a specified time or turn on a plug before you get home, for example. And that is precisely the function of Google Assistant: from now on, an app is not needed since the assistant itself is in charge of controlling the timers.

The new function is already active within Google’s virtual assistant. It is valid for lights, for connected speakers and other smart devices, such as washing machines. At the moment it is not compatible with plugsAlthough there is a little trick: just set the plugs connected to Assistant as lights. In this way they can be programmed with the voice.

To activate the timers through Google Assistant you must do the following:

• Open Google Assistant on your mobile (with ‘Ok, Google, from the Home button or with your app).
• Tell the assistant ‘Turn on the lights in three minutes‘. You can choose the object that you have connected with Assistant and the time you want. Not all are currently supported.
• Google will send an order to the connected object once time passes. This way you won’t have to worry about turning it off manually.
• The marked time appears as a small bubble in the Google Home application, on the device that has been programmed.
• In addition to turning off a device you can also turn it on, although we have only managed to do this with the lights (or with the plugs configured as lights). Gave ‘Turn on the dining room light in three minutes‘and Google Assistant will perform the action after the marked time.

With the new timing

you save yourself from acquiring connected objects that allow programming since Google Assistant can take care of that task. According to our tests the new actions work as expected: you can schedule music playing on a smart speaker to turn off, apply a timer when the washing machine is turned off or program the TV to switch off, for example. And all with the voice.

Via | The Free Android

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Google Assistant: How to schedule lights, speakers, and other devices to turn on and off

was originally published in

Xataka Android

by
Ivan Linares

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