Google Assistant will soon let you schedule smart home commands

CES has become a Google Assistant show where new features are announced alongside the year’s third-party hardware. For 2020, Google wants to give you more granular control over the smart devices in your home with Assistant Scheduled Actions.

Currently, Routines allow you to program Assistant to perform multiple things with a single command. There are six “Ready-made” macros like “Good morning” and “Commuting to work,” while users can make Custom ones that trigger automatically at a set time/day.

These new commands are more spontaneous and for tasks that don’t happen on a regular basis. Smart devices can be turned on/off or start/stop at a time of your choosing. Scheduled Actions like “Hey Google, start the coffee machine at 6AM” will be coming to Assistant “later this year.”

Meanwhile, the Home app is the primary place to control everything with Google simplifying the set-up process by giving you a notification or in-app suggestion to connect compatible third-party devices with Assistant. There are 20 new categories including AC units, air purifiers, bathtubs, coffee makers, and vacuums.

New devices at CES include: August Smart Locks, Telus Wi-Fi Hub routers, GE Appliances Ultrafresh Front Load Washer, MOEN shower, D-Link Outdoor Wi-Fi Spotlight camera, VIAROOM Smart, Somfy TaHoma Hub, Tado AC control, Yeelight Staria Bedside Lamp Pro and MerossSmart’s garage door opener. To highlight these compatible brands, the Google Store is offering a directory.

One particularly cool integration coming this spring is using Assistant to “turn on the Philips Hue HDMI Sync Box, which will sync your Philips Hue smart lights with your TV.”