Google Home Now Will Trigger Routines When You Arrive Or Leave

Back in August, Google introduced a range of different features for their Assistant Routines. Now, the company also developed a special location trigger for smart home devices, which works when you arrive or leave a certain place.

To see the change, you should go to the Home app or Google Assistant settings. You should open routines and find ‘Household Routines’ and there will be options for ‘Away’ and ‘Home.’ There is now a joined section in the settings called ‘When the user arrives/leaves’ and it includes ‘When someone comes home,’ When everyone is away,’ and ‘When I say to my Assistant.’ Other Routines don’t have such options.

You will also find a separate page where you can select either ‘Leave’ or ‘Arrive’ and then enter the needed location. When you want to choose the right location, you will be taken to the menu with your places. By default, there will be ‘Home’ and ‘Work’ options, but it’s possible to also add a new location to the list. In Settings, you can choose to receive a notification on your smartphone when a certain routine begins.

As opposed to Presence Sensing, which is done automatically, Google provides users with more customization opportunities. This is especially relevant for those users who weren’t able to use the existing feature successfully. At the same time, now there are more micromanaging options. With the new ‘Home’ feature, you are able to set it in a way that Assistant Routine is not triggered until you are closer to your house. This will ensure that the system doesn’t begin working when you are shopping close to your home or picking up children from daycare.

Do you use smart home devices? If so, what other features are you waiting for? Please, share your thoughts on the new function and any ideas you have regarding additional features.