So you just got your new Google Home, and now you’re probably wondering what to do with it. From controlling your connected lights to getting information about your favorite actor, Google Home, powered by the new Google Assistant, certainly has a lot of tricks up its sleeve.
Google Home first impressions: It’ll get better
How to set up and use Google Home
While there are thousands of different things you can ask your new smart speaker, we’ll do our best to round up the ones you need to know. Here’s a complete list of Google Home voice commands.
First thing’s first: If you want to get your Google Home’s attention just say “OK Google” or “Hey Google.”
Oh, and even if both your Android phone and Google Home hear you, only one of your devices will be triggered. This is a really good move on Google’s part.
Controlling your Google Home
To turn up the volume on your Google Home, you can say “Hey Google, increase volume”, “Hey Google, turn it up” or “Hey Google, increase volume to maximum.”
To turn the volume down, say “Hey Google, decrease volume”, “Hey Google, turn it down” or “Hey Google, decrease volume to minimum.”
If you need Google Home to pause, resume or stop, just say “Hey Google, pause”, “Hey Google, resume” or “Hey Google, stop.”
Want to know some examples of things Google Home can do? Just say “Hey Google, help.”
Tools and productivity
Set an alarm: “Hey Google, set an alarm for 7 AM”, “Hey Google, set an alarm for every Friday morning at 7 AM”, “Hey Google, set an alarm in 25 minutes” or “Hey Google, wake me up at 7 AM every day.”
Check your alarms: “Hey Google, when is my next alarm?”
Snooze an alarm: “Hey Google, snooze alarm.”
Cancel an alarm: “Hey Google, cancel alarm for [time].”
Set a timer: “Hey Google, set a timer for [time].”
Check timer: “Hey Google, how much time is left on my timer?”
Check the time: “Hey Google, what time is it?”
International time: “Hey Google, what time is it in [location]?”
Convert currency: “Hey Google, how much is $5 in euros?”
Check your location: “Hey Google, where am I?”
Translate something: “Hey Google, how do you say ‘hello’ in Spanish?”
Roll a die: “Hey Google, roll a die.”
Flip a coin: “Hey Google, flip a coin.”
Add to your shopping list: “Hey Google, add [item] to my shopping list.”
Check your shopping list: “Hey Google, what’s on my shopping list?”
Find out a recipe: “Hey Google, how do you make chicken soup?”
Math: “Hey Google, what is 14 x 5?”
Measurements: “Hey Google, how many centimeters are in an inch?”
Searching the web
Check the weather: “Hey Google, what’s the weather like today?”, “Hey Google, do I need an umbrella today?”, “Hey Google, what’s the weather going to be like in [location] on [day/time]?”, “Hey Google, what’s the temperature outside?”, “Hey Google, is there a chance of rain on [day]?”
Check traffic: “Hey Google, what’s the traffic like on the way to work?”
Check stocks: “Hey Google, what’s the Alphabet stock price?” or “Hey Google, what’s Samsung trading at?”
Get a definition: “Hey Google, define [word].”, “Hey Google, what’s the definition of [word]?” or “Hey Google, what’s the meaning of [word]?”
Spelling: “Hey Google, how do you spell [word]?”
Holidays and events: “Hey Google, when is Thanksgiving this year?”
People and relationships: “Hey Google, who is [person]?”, “Hey Google, how old is [he/she]?”, “Hey Google, who is [person] married to?”, “Hey Google, who is [person]’s brother/sister/mother/father?”,
Places: “Hey Google, what country is [location] in?”
Things: “Hey Google, what is [thing]?”
Facts: “Hey Google, how tall is [person]?”
Distance: “Hey Google, how far is [location] from [location]?”, “Hey Google, how far is [location] from here?”
Businesses and information: “Hey Google, how far is [business] from here?”, “Hey Google, are there any [business type] around here?”, “Hey Google, how late is [business] open?”
Quotes: “Hey Google, give me a quote.”
Poems: “Hey Google, tell me a poem.”
Medical information: “Hey Google, what is a heart attack?”
Calories: “Hey Google, how many calories are in [food]?”
Animal sounds: “Hey Google, what sound does an [animal] make?”
Today’s news: “Hey Google, what’s today’s news?”
Daily briefing (includes weather, traffic and news): “Hey Google, good morning.”
Sports updates, scores and information: “Hey Google, when are the [sports team] playing next?”, “Hey Google, did the [sports team] win?”, “Hey Google, what was the score for the last [sports team] game?”, “Hey Google, tell me about [sports team].”
Actors, movies and shows: “Hey Google, what actors are in [movie]?”, “Hey Google, what movies came out last week?”
Multimedia
Play some music: “Hey Google, play some music.”, “Hey Google, play some [genre] music.”, “Hey Google, play some music on [music service].”
Play an artist, song, album or genre: “Hey Google, play [artist].”, “Hey Google, play [song].”, “Hey Google, play the album [album].”, “Hey Google, play [artist/song/album] on [music service].”, “Hey Google, play some [genre] music.”
Play a playlist: “Hey Google, play my dance playlist.”
Play a song by lyrics: “Hey Google, play the song that goes [song lyrics].”
Ask what’s playing: “Hey Google, what’s this song?”, “Hey Google, what’s this album?”
Get information: “Hey Google, when did this song come out?”
Like or dislike a song: “Hey Google, like this song.”, “Hey Google, dislike this song.”
Fast forward or rewind: “Hey Google, skip forward 30 seconds.”, “Hey Google, skip backward two minutes.”
Play music on Chromecast: “Hey Google, play [artist/song/album] on my Chromecast.”
Play videos on YouTube using Chromecast: “Hey Google, play funny cat videos on Chromecast.”, “Hey Google, play the latest video from Android Authority on Chromecast.”
Smart home commands
If you happen to own a Philips Hue, Nest Thermostat or Samsung SmartThings device, you’re in luck – Google Home can perform a number of different actions with these devices. Below you’ll find a list of some of the commands you can use with Google Home to help automate your connected gadgets.
How to control Philips Hue lights (or lights connected through SmartThings)
Turn on or off a light: “Hey Google, turn on [light name].”, “Hey Google, turn off [light name].”
Dim or brighten a light: “Hey Google, dim the [light name].”, “Hey Google, brighten the [light name].”
Set a light brightness to a certain percentage: “Hey Google, set [light name] to 50%.”
Dim or brighten lights by a certain percentage: “Hey Google, dim/brighten [light name] by 50%.”
Change the color of a light: “Hey Google, turn [light name] green].”
Turn on or off all lights in a room: “Hey Google, turn on lights in [room name].”, “Hey Google, turn off lights in [room name].”
Turn on or off all lights: “Hey Google, turn on all of the lights.”, “”Hey Google, turn off all of the lights.”
How to control your Nest thermostat
Adjust the temperature: “Hey Google, make it warmer/cooler.”, “Hey Google, raise/lower the temperature.”, “Hey Google, raise/lower the temperature two degrees.”, “Hey Google, set the temperature to 72 degrees.”
Switch to heating or cooling modes: “Hey Google, turn on heat/cooling.”, “Hey Google, set the thermostat to cooling/heating.”, “Hey Google, turn the thermostat to heat-cool mode.”
Set the mode and temperature: “Hey Google, set the heat to 68.”, “Hey Google, set the air conditioning to 70.”, “Hey Google, set [room name] thermostat to 72.”
Turn thermostat off: “Hey Google, turn off thermostat.”
Note: to turn the thermostat back on, you’ll need to specify a mode. You can say “Hey Google, turn on cooling/heating.”, “Hey Google, turn on heat-cool.”, “Hey Google, set the heat to 68.”, “Hey Google set the air conditioning to 70.”, etc.
Check the ambient temperature on the thermostat: “Hey Google, what’s the temperature inside?”
Check what the thermostat is set to: “Hey Google, what’s the thermostat set to?”
How to control Samsung SmartThings devices
Turn on or off all lights: “Hey Google, turn on all lights.”, “Hey Google, turn off all lights.”
Turn on or off all switches: “Hey Google, turn on all switches.”, “Hey Google, turn off all switches.”
Turn on or off everything in a room: “Hey Google, turn on everything.”, “Hey Google, turn off everything.”
Note: Google Assistant recognizes “lights”, “switches” and “outlets” as different kinds of devices. For example, if you say “Hey Google, turn on the lights,” it will turn on smart light bulbs but may not turn on smart switches that are connected to lamps or other lighting fixtures. To control those switches, add the word “light” to the name or nickname of the device.
Using IFTTT with Google Home
If you have a favorite app or service that’s not yet supported by Google Home, you might be in luck. Google Home is also compatible with IFTTT, the popular automation service. This means you can possibly hook up an app or service that doesn’t have support yet. For instance, Twitter doesn’t have Google Assistant support yet. However, you can still ask Google Assistant to post something to Twitter, as long as you have IFTTT set up. The same thing goes for other apps – want to add a task to Todoist? Just set it up in IFTTT, and Google Assistant will be able to add tasks whenever you ask it to.
For a full list of IFTTT channels compatible with Google Assistant, head here.
Easter eggs
“Hey Google, do a barrel roll.”
“Hey Google, what’s the loneliest number?”
“Hey Google, make me a sandwich.”
“Hey Google, when am I?”
“Hey Google, beam me up, Scotty.”
“Hey Google, how can entropy be reversed?”
“Hey Google, tell me a joke.”
“Hey Google, up up down down left right left right B A start.”
“Hey Google, who’s on first?”
“Hey Google, I am your father.”
“Hey Google, set phasers to kill.”
“Hey Google, did you fart?”
“Hey Google, it’s my birthday.”
“Hey Google, it’s not my birthday.”
“Hey Google, who let the dogs out?”
“Hey Google, do you want to build a snowman?”
“Hey Google, how many roads must a man walk down?”
“Hey Google, who is the real Slim Shady?”
“Hey Google, who ya gonna call?”
“Hey Google, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?”
“Hey Google, where’s Waldo?”
“Hey Google, party on, Wayne.”
Anything else?
There are probably way more voice commands that can be used with Google Home, so if you have any you’d like to share, speak up in the comments below.