Looking for some Google home commands to maximize the usage of your Google Assistant devices such as Google Home, Google Home Mini, Google Home Hub, Nest Mini, and Nest Hub Max? Here is an awesome list of commands for Google Home to get started.
The Google Home smart speakers are impressive devices. Once you learn the full library of commands you can use with them, you'll realize just how powerful these seemingly simple devices can be. Google Home is one of the central pieces in our Smart Home setup.
Google Home hub can help you with your productivity, it can make enjoying entertainment more convenient, and even help you with entertaining guests. All you need to know is the right Google Home voice command to use.
Can you change the OK Google command on Google Home?
Unfortunately, NO. The activation word for Google Assistant and Google Home devices must be OK Google or Hey Google (at this point). There have been workarounds to this but Google has been shutting them all down.
The following are 27 of the most useful available Google Home commands you can use right now.
You may already know that you can say play <song name> on Spotify, and Google Home will start playing your preferred song. But if you're listening to a random playlist on Spotify with your Google Home hub, you can also give the command, Hey Google, play this album on Spotify. [Read:9 Best music server software options: Build your own Spotify]
Google Home will identify the album that the song is from, and will switch to playing all songs from that album.
2. Remind Me
One of the ways Google Home can really help with your productivity is by making it very simple to remember things. You can have Google Home remind you to do anything at any time simply by saying something like, Hey Google, remind me to walk at the park tomorrow at noon. [Read:7 Cool automation ideas with Google Assistant and IFTTT]
At the time you've stated, Google Home will give you an audio reminder to do your task.
3. What's the Weather?
One thing you'll never have to worry about once you own a Google Home hub is knowing about the weather. You can ask Google Home things like:
This is one of the most used Google home mini commands in my home.
4. Morning or Night Routines
Think about the things you do in the morning. Maybe you walk downstairs and turn on the lamp near your reading chair. Then, maybe you check the weather, adjust your thermostat, and turn on the TV to check the news while you're drinking your coffee. Google Home lets you automate a bunch of your morning or evening activities through "routines".
You can set up Routines by installing and launching the Google Home app, and going through the following steps:
Tap on your Profile
Select Settings
Choose Assistant from the menu
Tap Routines
This lets you configure what Google will automate when you say Hey Google, good morning, or Hey Google, goodnight.
You can have Google Home perform a series of multiple automated actions.
Routines are an amazingly useful feature and will become an invaluable part of your day. By integrating Google Assistant with Home Assistant, you can take routines to a whole another level and automate components that Google Home does not support.
5. Location-Based Reminders
Set up location-based reminders by telling Google Home to remind you of something when you arrive at a certain location.
You can do this by saying Hey Google, remind me to buy milk when I'm at the grocery store.
Google Home may provide a few specific location options to choose from, and when you do it'll set your location based reminder.
6. Help with Decisions
Sometimes in life you have certain decisions to make that seem impossible. Google Home makes it easy when you just can't decide. Just say either, Hey Google, flip a coin, or Hey Google, give me a random number from 0 to 10.
Google Home will randomly give you an answer, which you can use to make your decision.
7. Converting Units
If you're ever cooking and not sure how to convert the units in the recipe to a measurement device you have, Google Home can help. Just say something like, Hey Google, how many cups in a gallon?
Google Home will quickly give you the conversion. You can use this feature for anything from converting lengths, electrical measurements, cooking units, and much more.
8. Set a Timer
Need to take a 15 minute break? Are you trying to make sure your work session stays under 2 hours? Just say, Hey Google, set a timer for 3 minutes.
Google will immediately start a countdown, and set off an alarm when the time is up.
9. Manage Your Todo List
If you're a ToDoist user, you can go far beyond Google Home's reminder feature. Just say, Hey Google, Talk to ToDoist.
This links you to an entirely different assistant (complete with a different voice) that's tapped directly into your ToDoist account. This ToDoist assistant has a whole different family of commands available for you to use. You can do things like:
Hear, add, or complete tasks
Move or create projects
Add labels
Adjust task priorities
All of these commands give you impressive voice control over your daily productivity.
10. Check Stocks
If you're ever curious how your current stocks are performing, or the general health of the stock market, you can issue stock related queries to your Google Home device.
Just say, Hey Google, How is Amazon's stock doing? or Hey Google, How's the Nasdaq doing?
Google Home will respond with that stock's current stock price, or how market indexes are doing.
11. Get Spelling Help
Have you ever found yourself writing something, and mid-sentence, you just can't remember how to spell a specific word? Most people ask a family member, or anyone else who may be around. But if you're alone and have no one to ask, you can turn to Google Home by saying, Hey Google, how do you spell orangutan?
Google Home will spell out the word for you out loud, one letter at a time.
12. Find Highly Rated Businesses
You don't have to waste your time searching the web for highest rated pizza or Chinese delivery places nearby. Just ask Google Home by saying, Hey Google, what's the best pizza delivery near me?
Google Home will display the businesses nearby with the highest rating on Google Reviews. When you see the place you want to order from, just say, Hey Google, call <name of business>.
Google Home will use your phone's cellular service to make the call, and you can place your order via voice direction on your Google Home speaker.
13. Calorie Counting
One of the hardest things about eating healthy is staying under a daily calorie limit. This is hard because researching the calorie content of food takes time. Google Home can help.
All you have to do is say, Hey Google, how many calories are in <food>. If you provide the amount of food, you'll get a much more accurate calorie count.
14. Listen to Audio Books
If you love audio books, you'll love the fact that Google Home will read books to you. Google Home pulls books from your Google Play Books account. So purchase a book there, and you can have your Google Home smart speaker read it to you.
The command is just Hey Google, read <book title>.
If you don't own the book in your Google Play Books account yet, Google will read you a sample of the book so you can decide if you want to buy it.
15. Cooking Help
If you own a Nest Hub Max or Google Home Hub and have it placed in your kitchen, you have access to a personal chef whenever you need it.
Just say something like, Hey Google, show me how to make shrimp scampi.
You'll see a list of recipes from various websites to choose from. Select a recipe and Google Home will first read the ingredients for you. Then it'll talk you through every step of the recipe so you don't have to mess around with recipe books. You can keep both hands on the task in front of you.
16-27. Other Google Home Commands
All of these commands are pretty useful, but there are many more. Some people can go years owning a Google Home device and never realize these commands even exist. You don't have to.
16. Hey Google, what do I have if I'm coughing and light-headed?: Get a list of possible illnesses you could suffer from.
17. Hey Google, play the song that goes, there is a house in new orleans: Identify a song just from partial lyrics.
18. Hey Google, play Big Bang Theory on Living Room TV: Cast Netflix or Youtube to your Chromecast device.
19. Hey Google, Broadcast kids supper is ready: Send an announcement to every Google Home device in the house (including Google Home Minis).
20. Hey Google, how much is a round-trip flight to Boston next Friday?: Get estimated trip costs to anywhere in the world.
21. OK Google, find my phone or OK Google, ring my phone: Easily locate your phone when you've lost it.
22. Okay Google let's read along with Disney: Plays sound effects and music as you read a Disney book to your kids. This feature is available for Disney books like The Three Little Pigs, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and more.
23. Hey Google, remember that I hid my fun money in the cookie jar: Let Google remember things for you. Later you can say hey Google, where is my fun money? to recover whatever you've hidden.
24. Hey Google, play 91.3: Listen to any local radio station just by telling your Google Home hub the station.
25. Hey Google how do I make a Margarita?: Get any drink recipe, or even ask for a random cocktail if you're not sure what you want to drink.
26. Google Home Slideshow: In the Google Home app, go to the settings for your Google Home Hub, click ambient mode, and choose Google Photos to transform your Nest Hub Max or Google Home hub into a digital photo frame.
27. Party Games: Make the family night a blast by telling Google Home to play SongPop, Animal Trivia, Movie Trivia, Freeze Dance, Musical Chairs, Rogue's Choice, Jungle Adventure, or Mad Libs.
Closing Thoughts on Commands for Google Home
As you can see, your Google Home or Nest smart speaker is far more functional than most people realize. By using the full family of Google Home commands that are available, you can enhance your life in countless ways.
For google home voice commands to work, a service needs to be integrated with Google Assistant. Not all services support Google Assistant. This is where combining Google home with a Home controller like Home Assistant can extend Google Home's functionality even further. For example, I can OK Google, turn on vacation mode and all the vacation mode events I have set up on Home Assistant become active. I can cast animated weather radar to my Nest Hub max with a voice command. The possibilities are endless.
Ryan has a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering. He's worked 13 years in automation engineering, 5 years in IT, and now is an Apps Engineer. Ryan is a tech writer for major websites. He's spoken at national conferences and has been featured on national TV and radio.
