Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
For the last week, I’ve been testing out Google Home’s powerful new automation editor and trying to see if it could perform the kind of routines I need in my smart home. I was happy to see a few interesting additions, like adding time delays, but Google is still shooting itself in the foot by artificially restricting so many possible automations and actions.
As a Home Assistant and Google Home dual-platform user, I find the difference between what I can do on both laughable. Of course, I expect to do more in Home Assistant — that’s the whole point of a powerful and open platform like that — but so much of Google’s Home power is tied and limited, for no reason whatsoever.
What do you think of Google Home's new powerful automation editor? 14 votes It's great! It does everything I need. 0 % I like it, but it still needs some essential features. 29 % It's still very basic and doesn't do what I want. 43 % I had no idea there was a new automation editor. 29 %
Google Home’s new automation editor is a step in the right direction
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Building a routine in Google Home has been a pretty barebones, yet somehow confusing process for seven years now, since the feature first launched. It used to be a matter of choosing one sentence and the action it triggered, then Google added options for more trigger types (date and time or device statuses), multiple actions, and even some conditions.
Old Google Home routines with only time and date conditions New Google Home automations with more conditional options
The whole interface was a bit confusing, specifically when adding conditions to a trigger, because you could only do it inside the trigger. Now, the interface is more straightforward. The logic is “when this happens, and if this is true, then do that and that.” I think separating triggers and conditions makes them a lot more obvious for anyone building a new routine. Google also went beyond date and time, so conditions can also be device statuses or linked to your home/away presence.
Clearer conditions, using presence as a trigger or condition, and simpler actions make the new Google Home automations interface easier to use.
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