Rebuilding your routines after the Gemini switch

The four ground rules

1. Build in the Google Home app, not the Gemini app. Gemini’s app cannot trigger routines by schedule, location, typing, or home-screen shortcut. All of those still exist — but only as household automations in the Google Home app (Automations tab). Personal routines that used them must move.
2. Voice triggers: use an exact custom phrase. The generic “when I say Hey Google…” event starter frequently fails to fire under Gemini (a documented bug). A custom voice command starter with your exact phrase, word for word, uses direct phrase matching and works reliably.
3. Keep every action single-shot. Any action that needs Gemini to ask a follow-up (“What time do you want the alarm?”) is unsupported in automations. Bake every value in — exact times, exact temperatures, exact playlists.
4. When in doubt, rebuild from scratch. Migrated automations that error (“that device does not exist”) or silently fail usually work when recreated new, even though editing the migrated copy doesn’t. If the visual editor rejects a starter or action you need, try the previous-version editor or the script editor (Home app → Automations), which accept more.

Recipes

Morning briefing rebuildable

Replaces: the removed automatic daily updates and much of the old “Good morning” routine, including the broken “play the news” briefing.

1. Google Home app → Automations → New → Household automation.
2. Starter: a time (e.g. 7:00 AM weekdays) — or a voice command “good morning” if you prefer on-demand.
3. Actions, in order: “Tell me the weather” → “Tell me about my calendar today” → “Play [name of a news podcast]” on your music service.
4. Set the routine to run on the speaker where you used to hear the briefing.

What you don’t get back: Assistant’s curated multi-source news audio briefing. Naming a specific news podcast is the accepted substitute. Gemini’s own “Home Brief” daily summary exists but is gated behind Google Home Premium Advanced ($20/month).

Family Bell announcements rebuildable

Family Bell is discontinued outright. The announcements are reproducible; the management UI is not.

1. One automation per bell: Google Home app → Automations → New.
2. Starter: the bell’s time (e.g. 5:45 PM school nights).
3. Action: broadcast — “Broadcast: dinner in fifteen minutes” — to all speakers or specific rooms. Broadcasting works under Gemini; it’s now powered by Gemini directly.
4. Repeat for each bell you had. Screenshot the list when done — future you will thank you.

Custom voice commands rebuildable

For any “when I say X, do Y” routine that stopped responding after the migration.

1. Open the broken routine in Google Home app → Automations.
2. Delete the existing voice starter.
3. Add a new voice command starter and type the exact phrase you say — word for word, no paraphrase.
4. Save and test. If it still fails, rebuild the whole routine new and delete the original.

Bedtime routine rebuildable

1. Starter: voice command “good night” (exact phrase), plus optionally a time.
2. Actions: lights off (pick devices explicitly from the device picker — don’t rely on a natural-language “turn off the lights” action), thermostat to an exact temperature, door locks if supported, then “Play sleep sounds” or your wind-down playlist with a sleep timer.
3. Explicit device actions matter: loosely-worded actions are where users report Gemini “does whatever it wants”.

Leaving home / arriving home Home app only

1. These need the location starter, which lives only in Google Home app household automations — set “When everyone leaves home” / “When someone arrives”.
2. Actions: lights off, thermostat eco, cameras on (leaving); reverse for arriving.
3. Location triggers depend on each member’s phone sharing presence with Google Home — check Home app → Settings → Presence sensing after the migration, as membership settings have reset for some households.

Routines attached to alarms not rebuildable as-was

The old Clock-app trick — a routine that fires when your alarm is dismissed — has no Gemini equivalent. Closest substitutes: a scheduled automation a few minutes after your usual wake time, or a “good morning” voice-command routine you say when you get up. If sunrise-style wake automation matters to you, this is one of the things Home Assistant does better than Google ever did (it can trigger on your phone’s next-alarm sensor).

Birthday reminders removed from routines

The birthday-notification routine option is gone. Substitutes: ask directly (“remind me on 12 March every year that it’s Sam’s birthday” — lands in Google Tasks), or add birthdays to Google Calendar with notifications, which is more reliable than voice-created recurring reminders anyway.

Interpreter Mode cannot be rebuilt

No routine recreates live conversation translation on a speaker or display — the capability itself was removed and Gemini has no replacement. The Google Translate app’s conversation mode on a phone is the only working Google substitute. We list this here because it’s the most-asked “can I rebuild it?” question, and the honest answer is no.

When Google can’t do it any more

If the routine you need hit a wall above — unsupported starters, conversational actions, alarm triggers, or reliability you can’t accept — the constructive answer isn’t to keep fighting the Home app:

• Home Assistant runs automations of essentially unlimited complexity, locally, with triggers Google never offered (device state changes, sensor thresholds, your phone’s next alarm, sun elevation). Your Matter and most Wi-Fi devices carry over. See the honest cost/effort breakdown.
• Alexa covers the mainstream routine set (schedules, locations, voice phrases, announcements as a Family Bell stand-in) with the easiest setup, at the price of another big-tech ecosystem. Details.

Either can run alongside your Google gear during a trial week — Matter devices answer to multiple platforms simultaneously.