Troubleshoot Google Home automations

Some devices may fail to respond when switching between the correct Home & Away mode. Follow these steps to fix these issues:

1. Make sure your device is online.
2. Confirm in the app that the device is set to respond to Home & Away changes.
   1. Nest App
      1. Go to Settings Home Away Assist Find the device listed under When you are home.
      2. If the device shows no change, tap the device name and enable to toggle for the device to respond to Home & Away.
   2. Home App
      1. Go to Automations Home or Away Routine under Household Routines Check if Nest device is listed under Actions.
      2. If the device isn't listed under Actions, tap Add action Tap the check box next to the device name Next Enable the toggle for the device to respond to Home & Away Add Action Save the Routine.
3. Toggle the Home/Away button from the Favorites tab, then check if the devices now work as intended.
4. Check your Location settings.
5. Force close your app and then reopen it. Check if there are any changes to Home & Away.
6. Restart your phone or clear your app cache as a last resort.

1. Make sure your devices are online.
2. Check if your Nest app or Google Home app are up to date.
3. Check which devices are part of your Home or Away Routines. This may include sensors from Nest devices and phone location from home members:
   • On your Nest App, tap Settings Home/Away Assist What decides if you're home.
   • On your Home App, tap Settings Presense sensing.

A list of devices related to your Home or Away Routines appears.

4. Add your devices to the correct Routine. If they are already added and still have issues, proceed to the next step.
5. Make sure Location services are turned on for your mobile devices.
6. Check if your account is signed in to multiple devices.
7. Check if activity was recorded by the app.

You can check recorded activity of the past 10 days, which can explain why the Routine state changed. For example, the note "Home: Activity in the house. Living Room Thermostat 7:30 P.M." means that the home switched out of Away mode because your Thermostat saw activity.

• Nest App
  1. Go to Settings Home/Away Assist Activity History.
  2. Select the date that Home & Away didn't work as expected.
• Home App
  1. Go to Activity.
  2. Scroll or filter to the date that Home & Away didn't work as expected.

8. Check for additional behaviors that may trigger your Routines:
   • Are there other home members still at home?
   • Are your settings still the way you set them up?
   • Check if you have other devices signed into the app that you may have left at home.
   • Do your pets trigger your device sensors?
   • Check for any heat sources such as heaters that may trick a Nest Thermostat into thinking someone is home.

Tip: For these situations you can simply remove the specific device as a sensor or turn off motion sensing for the device through the app.

1. Open the Home app tap Automations check which section (“Household Routines” or “Personal Routines”) the Routine is listed under.
2. Check the Activity feed in the Home app to determine when your Routines ran.
   1. The history shows you details of the Routine that ran. (Example: Due to inactivity or because a device changed state)
   2. You can also check the Routine editor to review your list of starters and conditions.
3. Also test if your Routine gets triggered by another Routine or action. For example, a Routine starts whenever media is played in the home.

1. Check the Activity feed in your Home app to understand when and how your Routines ran.
   • Open the Home app tap Activity find “Routine started” events.
   • The details should include the time the Routine ran, the name of the Routine, and what caused the Routine to start.
2. If the details don’t match how you want the Routine to run, edit your Routine’s starters and actions.
3. If the starters and actions are correct, check if the Routine is activated.
   1. Open the Home app tap Automations select the Routine you want to check.
   2. The Activate Routine toggle must be in the on position for the Routine to start. If it's grayed out , tap to activate the toggle.

• On most phones, you can change the language in the phone's Settings app. For more detailed instructions, check with your phone's manufacturer.
• The Google Home app may take up to 12 hours to update after you change the language.

1. Check your list of actions with the Routine editor.
2. Test if the action can be performed. Take note of any error message or verbal response from Google Assistant.
   1. Home app: Tap your device and try to make adjustments from the app. For example, you can change the brightness.
   2. Assistant: Give a similar voice command to an Assistant-enabled speaker or display. For example, say “Ok Google, adjust living room light brightness to 80%” to confirm that the voice command adjustment action works.
3. Check if the Routine contains custom actions:
   1. Open the Home app tap Automations select the Routine you want to check.
   2. Under “Actions”, custom actions have the Assistant icon near its name. Example: Set the volume to 50%.
   3. Not all custom actions are supported. Test the custom action on an Assistant-enabled device to confirm if the command works.
4. Verify that you have chosen a playback device in the "Device for audio" section to ensure audio playback functions properly for actions like media playback or broadcasts. Make sure that:
   1. The playback device isn’t in Do not disturb mode.
   2. The playback device's volume is turned up.

1. Open the Home app .
2. Tap Favorites At the top, check that you're using the desired home for the Routine.
3. Tap Devices . If the device is in "Local devices" instead of a room, the device may be in a different home.
   • To move the device to another home, touch and hold the device's tile tap Settings .
   • Tap Device information Home the name of the home you're using for the Routine.

Note: If your device is in the correct home and isn't included in starters and actions, the device doesn’t support Routines at this time.

• Make sure to use valid code when you create your automation. If an error exists, a message appears. Learn more about validation errors and warnings.
  • You can also check if your code is valid if you click or tap on Validate in the script editor.
• If your automation stops or doesn't work as intended, manually confirm that each component in your script works.
  • For example, if you wrote a script to turn on the light and change the brightness at sunset, try to complete these tasks with an assistant command to confirm that each individual function works.
• Check that your device name, starters, conditions, and actions are written correctly. Note: Manufacturers may change device traits when they perform updates and this can cause scripts to stop working. You can use auto-complete to help update affected scripts.
• Find help with scripts and learn what others are working on in the Google Home Automation community.