Complete Guide to Smart Home Automation using Google Home

Google Home can do much more than answer your silly questions and tell you jokes. 

You can connect various smart home devices to Google Home to automate things around in your house. Google Home Can be the central point to connect your smart home devices and enable voice commands as well.

Google has grown over the years as a big player in the smart home industry. It works with more than a thousand brands and 10,000+ devices today. If you purchase any smart home gadget from the market, there is a good chance it will work with Google Assistant. And if it does, you can easily integrate it with your Google Home application to control it using voice commands. 

Here’s how to get started with setting up smart home automation using Google Home as your central controller.

What are the best smart home devices? How much is it going to cost me? How do I set this up? These are the common questions that come into the head of every person who is starting their smart home journey.

Setting up a smart home sounds easy. Some smart home appliances, connect them all, and you’re good to go, right? 

Wrong!

Many people think that all it takes to set up a smart home is to integrate smart devices. What they don’t know is how do they set it up properly and what products to buy. Before getting started with all this and making your first purchase, you need to ask yourself some questions with the first one being, ‘Should I build a smart home?’

Why do you need a smart home? Maybe you want to automate the household activities to some extent and control it all with your voice. Maybe you don’t want a smart home, but your friend just invested in one and now you want one as well. There are different reasons for different people. Whatever your reason is, if you are getting started on your smart home journey, I’m here to help you out.

Why Google Home Hub?

If you are just thinking about adding only a few smart home devices, you don’t need a Google Home Hub or any smart home hub for that matter. If you are thinking about adding additional smart home items to your home as time goes on, it’s best to get a hub.

With a hub, you can connect more and more devices to one location and track them easily. When you’re using Google Home Hub to automate all your other devices, your Google Home will be the central communication point between all your smart home devices.

Which smart home lighting is best with Google home?

If you are choosing smart light bulbs that are made for Google Home, you can set them up using the Google Home application without needing a bridge or hub. 

For this guide, we are using Philips Hue lighting. Connecting your Philip Hue with Google Home is easy.

Before connecting your Philip Hue to Google Home, you must pair it to a Philips Hue Bridge. Every pack of Philips Hue lights come with a bridge that controls the lights and works on its own, with the Hue application and also smart home speakers. 

Follow these steps to pair your Philips Hue lights and the Hue Bridge:

  • Switch on the Philips Hue lights after plugging them into a power source.
  • Plug the Bridge into the router using the Ethernet cable. Once all the lights on the Bridge turn on, the device is ready.
  • Install the Hue application and launch the app once downloaded.
  • The application will automatically search for the Bridge but make sure your smartphone is connected to the same network as the Bridge.
  • Follow the on-screen instructions to pair the lights to the Bridge.

After connecting your Philips Hue lights to the bridge, follow these simple steps to connect them to your Google Home:

  • Launch the Google Home application on your smartphone.
  • Open the Menu button located at the top-left corner of the screen.
  • Now select Home Control.
  • Select the ‘+’ button in the bottom-right to add new devices.
  • Among the listed devices, select Philips Hue.
  • Then click on Assign Rooms to configure your devices.
  • Tap Edit, next to each light.
  • Select the room, then tap the back arrow in the list to edit another device.
  • Click Done, once you have assigned room to all the devices.

Some other lights that work best with Google Home are listed below: 

1. Wyze Bulb

2. TP-Link Kasa Smart KL110

3. Lifx A19 Mini

Which smart security camera is best with Google home?

I was looking for the best wireless security camera that was easy to set up and control. Luckily I found the Arlo Pro 4

Here’s a list of its features that attracted me.

  • It doesn’t need a power cord as it is powered by a battery.
  • It works with Google Assistant, Alexa, HomeKit and SmartThings.
  • It captures 2k video and it has night vision.
  • Follow these steps to connect Arlo Pro 4 to Google Assistant:
  • Launch the Google Assistant application.
  • Go to Assistant Settings and click Home Control.
  • Add your Arlo Cameras.
  • You can now control your Arlo Camera using voice commands.

Some other security cameras that work well with Google Home are listed below:

1. Ring Stick Up Cam Battery

2. Canary

3. Reolink Argus 2

Which Thermostat works best with Google Home?

Ecobee Thermostat is one of the best smart thermostats out there in the market. Alongside, Google’s own thermostat Nest, it was a tough choice which to use. But I’m glad I chose the Ecobee as its sensors are much more advanced than that of the Nest.

To connect your Ecobee to Google Home there are two options, you can either connect to Google Assistant through the Google Home application or the Google Assistant App. If you don’t have a Google Home smart speaker, it is possible to connect through the Google Assistant application.

Steps to Connect Ecobee to Google Home:

  • Launch the Google Home application on your phone.
  • Then select the Add icon
  • Now, click on Set up Device.
  • Select Works with Google 
  • Now Tap Manage Account.
  • Search for Ecobee using the search icon in the top-right of the screen.
  • Click on the Ecobee Icon.
  • Sign-in using your Ecobee credentials to link your Ecobee account with Google account.
  • At last, click on Accept.

Now, you can control your Ecobee Thermostat using the Google Home speaker.

Some other great thermostats out there that work well with Google Home are listed below:

1. Nest Learning Thermostat

2. Honeywell Home T9 Thermostat

3. Hive Active Heating Thermostat

Which Carbon Monoxide Detector is best with Google Home?

Google’s own Google Nest Protect was my primary choice when it came to carbon monoxide detectors. Follow these steps to connect Google Nest Protect to Google Home:

Connecting Nest products to Google Home is simple. If you have your Nest account connected to a Google Home account, Nest products will automatically show up in the Google Home application.

Some other great monoxide detectors are listed below:

1. First Alert OneLink

2. Alert Plus

3. Kidde Battery-Operated

4. Kidde Nighthawk

Which Smart Home Lock work best with Google Home?

After trying out many smart home locks on the market, we decided that August Smart Home Lock is the more reliable lock out there.

Ever lie awake at night trying to remember if you locked the front door? Google Home can bring you peace of mind with its support for the August Smart Wi-Fi Smart Lock. Just ask Google if your door is locked, and it’ll tell you — and you can lock or unlock it using your voice.

The August Smart Wi-Fi Smart Lock also helps you keep track of guests coming to your home, letting you open the door remotely for a dog walker or delivery when you’re not home.

The August Smart Wi-Fi Smart Locks sits atop of our list of best smart locks and is one of the best Google Home compatible devices. It’s also a nice upgrade to its predecessor the August Smart Lock Pro. Everything we liked about the August Pro is available in the new model: A simple installation process, features such as DoorSense (which lets you know if your door has been left ajar), and interoperability with a huge range of other smart home systems, from Alexa to Google Assistant to Xfinity. And, the August Wi-Fi lets you keep the keys from your existing deadbolt.

Other smart home locks that work with Google Home:

· Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro + Wifi Bridge

· Kwikset Halo Touch Fingerprint Smart Lock

· Nest X Yale Lock with Nest Connect

· Schlage Encode Smart Wifi Deadbolt

Garage Door Automation Devices

If you park in your home’s garage, you know the feeling — you’re half-way down the street only to wonder if you closed the garage door. What if you could just open an app and see your door and even use that app to close it? What if you could ask the assistant on your phone to do it for you with just a voice command?

Chamberlain’s MyQ Smart Garage Hub is a system to add smarts to a wide variety of garage door openers. With MyQ installed, you can check your garage door’s status and open or close the door remotely from the MyQ app on your iOS or Android smartphone. Chamberlain’s MyQ system is easy to install, with no wires to attach to your existing door opener. It does require bolting a bracket onto your ceiling rather than the more common adhesive tape approach used by other manufacturers. 

MyQ works with a variety of smart home products such as Nest, Wink, Vivint and Xfinity Home to control and automate multiple smart home devices from one platform. Chamberlain isn’t compatible with SmartThings or Amazon Alexa, but there is Google Assistant and IFTTT compatibility. Chamberlain offers HomeKit users compatibility no other manufacturer in our testing did, though it does require the MyQ Home Bridge adapter. Chamberlain’s MyQ system comes with the quality of a trusted garage brand and should be on the top of your list for well-made garage smarts. 

Other Smart Garage Door Automation Devices that work with Google Home:

· Tailwind iQ3

· Garadget

· Alcidae Garager 2

Smart Home Blinds Automation

Imagine the perfect morning: You step out of bed, stretch, and say, “Good morning, Alexa.” Within seconds, your nightstand Echo Dot illuminates and responds with a pleasant greeting while raising the smart shades in your master bedroom. Smart shades may not be the first smart product we think of when envisioning automation for the home, but they’re one of the most innovative.

With these IKEA FYRTUR smart blinds installed in your home, you’ll be able to control the light in your room with the touch of a button. Each blind is capable of blocking out external light to create a dark and private environment for you to enjoy. If you install more than one blind, it’s possible to use the TRADFRI gateway and IKEA Home smart app to create groups for your blinds and control them all at once. The grey-colour blinds are available in a range of different sizes and come with a rechargeable battery, a charger and remote control.

The Fyrtur shades are well made, and in our testing, they worked reliably. And the replaceable, rechargeable battery is at 80% after four months of daily use. That said, the included remote is a bit finicky, and installation and setup can be just as frustrating as it is when you’re putting together an IKEA cabinet. But considering the reasonable price for these shades, we think it’s hard to complain.

Other Smart Home Blinds that works with Google Home:

· Tilt MySmartRollerShades

· Lutron Serena

· Graywind Motorized Roller Shades

Conclusion

Choosing the best Google Home compatible devices while setting up a smart home can seem a little overwhelming as there are hundreds of products to choose from. However, with a little research, you can easily find out what device is best-suited for you and your family.

During the time of writing this article, we consider different factors like how easy is the setup process, how appealing it looks, and finally performance.