Change the settings for Home and Away routines

Home and Away routines are household routines that can start when everyone's away or when someone comes home. They work with devices that you manage in the Google Home app.

Important: All household members can see when these Routines run. Routines are for convenience only, not safety- or security-critical use cases. Do not create Routines that could result in injury or harm if they fail to start or stop. Routines can depend on working internet, Wi-Fi, and service availability from both Google and the third parties who manufacture the devices included in Routines. Routines may not always work, and Google is not responsible for any harm or losses incurred as a result of any failed Routines.

For information about other Google Home app routines, go to Create and manage routines in the Google Home app.
For information about presence sensing automation with devices that you manage in the Nest app, go to Change Home/Away Assist settings.

Set up Home and Away routines for your home

To set up Home and Away routines for the first time:

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings tap the name of your home.
Under "Home & Away Routines," tap Set up Set up again.
Set up your Home routine and Away routine by selecting the devices and settings you want to adjust when someone comes home or when everyone is away.
(Optional) Set up your phone's location to be used for presence sensing.
- You'll need to enter your home address and confirm it by placing a pin on a map.
(Optional) Select the any other devices you want to use to determine if someone's home.

Manage what your devices do when you leave and come home

Add a device action

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Automations .
Under 'Household routines', select Home or Away.
Tap Add action .
Available devices will appear. Tick the box next to the one that you want to add actions for. You can also select multiple devices that have at least one action in common, like 2 or more smart lights.
- Note: If no devices appear, then there are no devices available to add to the routine.
Tap Next.
Available actions for each device that you select will appear. Choose each action that you want your device to take.
Tap Add action.
Tap Save to save any changes.
- You can also tap Close near the top of the screen to discard any changes that you've made.

Remove device actions

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Automations .
Under 'Household routines', select Home or Away.
Select the device action that you want to remove.
Tap Remove action.
Tap Save to save any changes.
- You can also tap Close near the top of the screen to discard any changes that you've made.

Edit an existing device action

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Automations .
Under 'Household routines', select Home or Away.
Select a device that you want to edit.
Device actions that you can add, remove or adjust will appear.
After making the changes that you want, tap Save, then Save again.
- You can also tap Close near the top of the screen to discard any changes that you've made.

Manage presence sensing

Change which devices start a Home or Away routine

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings Presence sensing.
Select the devices that you want to use for presence sensing. These devices help determine if everyone's away or someone's home.

Enable or disable phone location for presence sensing

When you allow your home to use phone location, home members can choose to let their phones help with presence sensing.

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings Presence sensing.
Turn Allow this home to use phone locations on or off.

Learn how to use your phone location for better presence sensing.

Turn Location Sharing on or off for your phone

When you turn on location sharing for your phone, it helps with presence sensing.

If you haven't already, set your phone's location services to be always on for the Google Home app. For instructions, check with your phone's manufacturer.
Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings Presence sensing.
Under 'Your location', find your phone.
- If this is the first time, tap Turn on location access follow the steps.
- After the first time, tap the phone's switch to turn location sharing on or off.

Note:

Each home member can change this setting for their phone at any time.
You can't turn location sharing on or off for another home member's phone.
Each home member can only share one phone's location at a time. If you first turn on Location Sharing for one phone, then turn it on for a second phone, it will automatically turn off for the first phone.
You can share your phone location in either the Home app or the Nest app, but not both at the same time. If you first turn on location access in one app, then turn it on in the other, it automatically turns off location access in the first app.

Delete presence history

For instructions on how to delete your presence history, go to Presence sensing and how to manage your data.

Disable Home and Away routines

Home and Away routines can't be paused or deleted, but you can disable them in other ways.

Disable presence sensing

If you disable presence sensing, Home and Away routines actions will still be available, but won't start automatically.

Open the Google Home app .
Tap Settings Presence sensing.
Turn off Allow this home to use phone locations Turn off.
Turn off all other devices that you selected to help start Home and Away routines.

Note: Home members will still be able to start Home and Away routines with the Google Home app or with a voice command (US English only).

Remove all device actions from Home and Away routines

If you remove all device actions, Home and Away routines won't be able to adjust anything in your home.

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