Track a trip: If you’re a Gmail user, Google Assistant can automatically look up information about upcoming flights, restaurant reservations, and unpaid bills. And if you miss the answer the first time, you can always say, “Hey Google, say that again.” Just ask to add, subtract, multiply, or divide a string of numbers, then use follow-up commands (“Hey Google, divide that by four”) to continue the calculation.Ĭonsult the dictionary: Google Assistant is also quick with definitions, synonyms, and spellings (“Hey Google, how do you spell ‘lugubrious?'”), so you can get help with your writing without breaking focus on the current task.
If you broadcast a message from your phone, Google Home users can even send a message back by saying, “Hey Google, reply.” Time saverĬalculate quickly: When you need to do some math, Google Assistant can crunch numbers as quickly as you can dictate them, including numbers in the hundreds or thousands. Try it for broadcasting that you’re on the way home from work, or for telling everyone at home to keep the noise down. To see who’s available, say, “Hey Google, place a video call.” (The hard part is convincing folks that something other than Apple’s FaceTime exists for this purpose.)īroadcast yourself: With the “Hey Google, broadcast” voice command, you can send quick voice messages to your Google Home speakers, either from another speaker or from any phone or tablet with the Google Assistant app installed. You can make them to anyone who’s using Duo on a phone, tablet, or desktop web browser, or with other smart-display users. and video calls: If you have a Google-powered smart display with a video camera, such as the Lenovo Smart Display or the forthcoming Google Nest Hub Max, you can place video calls through the Google Duo service. Then just say, “Hey Google, call ” to make a call. From there, you can link your contacts list and verify your phone number. To get started, open the Google Home app on your phone and head to Account > More settings > Services > Voice and Video calls. With a little extra setup, they can even show your regular phone number to the recipient. Google Home speakers can call any number within the United States or Canada for free. Make phone calls: Next time your hands are tied and you need to get on the phone, ask Google Assistant to make the call for you. You can specify what voice command will initiate the routine in the “Add commands” section, then use the “Add action” section to write out a list of commands to execute. Hit the + button to begin creating your own. To set this up, head to the Google Home app, select Routines from the main menu, then select Manage Routines. A “Focus mode” routine, for instance, could let you enable Do Not Disturb, set Google Home to a mid-to-low volume, set up your Pomodoro timers, and turn on white noise all at the same time. You cannot create new timers within the app or edit them in any way.Tie it all together: With Google Assistant routines, you can execute multiple actions with a single voice command. There, you can separately adjust the timer and alarm volume and view or cancel any existing timers.
To get to this menu, open the Google Home app and go to Devices > Settings > Alarms & timers. "OK, Google, how much time is left on the coffee timer?"Īfter creating timers, you can manage them within the Google Home app on iOS and Android.Just say, "OK, Google, create a coffee timer for " or, "OK, Google, create a timer for pizza." With multiple timers, you can say things like: More recently, Google made it possible to name your timers so that multiple timers are easier to manage. You can also specify by saying, "OK, Google, create a second timer for.
If you tell Google Home to create a timer while a current timer is currently running, it will automatically create a separate timer. "OK, Google, how much time is left on my timer?"Ī while back, Google added the option to set multiple timers.As you might expect, setting a basic timer with Google Home is very straightforward.