Google introduces a new Assistant routine designed to enhance your productivity while working from home. This feature reminds you to take breaks for essential activities, such as stretching, walking, or hydrating, ensuring you don’t get too comfortable at your desk as time passes. The routine comes with pre-set actions for specific times, but you can customize it to better fit your schedule. For example, instead of simply prompting you to “start preparing dinner” at 5 PM, you could add a lighthearted reminder like “Take a shower, you stink” at 7 PM.
These reminders will be delivered through your smart display or speaker, with regular time updates throughout the day. This functionality resembles the Family Bell feature, but offers more gentle notifications.
Additionally, Google is launching a Gentle Sleep and Wake feature for smart lights, allowing you to create a soothing start and end to your workday. Simply say, “Hey Google, sleep (or wake) my lights at [your preferred time],” and your lamps will gradually fade in or out with changing colors. If you use an Assistant alarm, you can enhance your morning routine by saying, “Turn on gentle wake up,” and your lights will brighten slowly for 30 minutes before your alarm sounds.