How to Set Up Morning and Bedtime Routines on Amazon Echo or Google Home

Smart speakers — like Amazon Echo (which uses Alexa) and Google Home or Nest speakers (which use Google Assistant) — become much more powerful when you set up Routines. A Routine lets you say one phrase and have the speaker automatically do a whole list of things.

Imagine waking up every morning and saying "Alexa, good morning" or "Hey Google, good morning" — and your speaker responds by telling you what the weather is like today, listing any appointments you have, playing your favorite morning music or radio station, and turning on the lights in your bedroom (if you have smart bulbs). All from one command.

At bedtime, saying "Good night" could have your speaker set an alarm for the next morning, play soft relaxation sounds, and turn off your lights.

You don't need a fully equipped smart home to use basic routines. Even without smart lights, you can still have your speaker read the weather, news headlines, or your schedule, and play music — that alone saves several separate commands every morning.

Setting up routines is done in the smartphone app that controls your speaker: the Alexa app for Amazon Echo devices, and the Google Home app for Google Home and Nest speakers. You need the app installed on your phone to set up routines, but once set up, you control everything with your voice.