Routines on Google Assistant are rolling out – but only in the US

After announcing Routines for Assistant in October last year, Google has finally begun rolling them out to users – but only in the US.

Routines are basically editable commands, like shortcuts but they allow you to string a bunch of commands together into one command.

At this stage Google has advised that Routines are only available in the US, adding this rider to the top of the page:

They sound fun, but for now we simply get ‘My Day’ which has very few options. Scott has somehow managed to see Routines in his setup in the Google Home app, but no-one else is seeing them here so it’s likely an abberation. To check, open the Google Home app, go to the slide out Nav Drawer and select ‘… More Settings’, then scroll down and check in the ‘Services’ section under ‘News’.

The Routines on Google Assistant page is now live on the Google Support site listing six different routines that will be arriving for users to use and modify as they see fit. The six routines include four – Good morning, Bedtime, Leaving Home, I’m Home – that can be accessed from both Google Home and your iOS or Android device, while the last two – Commuting to work and Commuting Home – can only be accessed through Assistant from your Android or iOS device.

There are a number of pre-defined actions for each command on the Google Support site, The Good Morning and Bedtime routines seem the most expansive, with the Assistant able to be told to change your phone volume, adjust or turn on your smart home devices or media volume on devices, tell you about your day including calendar, commute, calendar and reminders then play a podcast etc. when using Good Morning; And at Bedtime, the Assistant can also be told to do many of these things, as well as set an alarm, or tell you about your first calendar event.

Leaving Home and I’m Home Routines are a little more limited. When leaving home you can simply set the Routine to smart home devices, but when coming home you can do all this as well as Broadcasting to your Home that you’re there, adjust media volume and then play a range of media including Music, News, Radio, Podcasts or Audiobooks.

Finally, with your mobile device based Routines there’s differences there too. Using Commuting to Work you can get info on the Weather, as well as your Commute, Calendar entries, and reminders, as well as adjust your smart home devices including lights, plugs, thermostats, and more and then adjust your media volume and play the range of media. When coming home, you get this, but also the added option to send a TXT message (doesn’t say anything about other messaging clients), read unread TXTs, broadcast to your Google Homes that you’re coming home and adjust media volume and then play media.

Exactly when Google will roll out Routines in other markets hasn’t been announced, but we’re hoping it’s soon.