4 Useful Smart Home Automation That Will Make Your Mornings Smoother

You’ve invested hundreds of dollars into starting a smart home, complete with smart speakers, smart lights, a smart thermostat, and a handful of other internet-connected gadgets. You’ve also become familiar with using multiple voice commands to ask your technician to do this and that, but now you’re ready to take it to the next level. Getting up in the morning and starting the day is the bane of many people’s existence, so we thought we’d try using a handful of smart devices to alleviate some of your sunrise woes.

You’ve moved beyond device-level voice commands and used the Alexa or Google Home app to control and personalize your smart devices; Today we are going to focus on creating smart home automation on several levels. And for the sake of simplicity, we’re going to frame everything around the Alexa ecosystem. That’s not to say you won’t be able to create our recommended automations using Google Home or Apple HomeKit, as many of these actions can be recreated in other smart ecosystems with just a few menu or vocabulary variations.

To that end, we’ll use Alexa Routines to set up these four custom-designed automations for easier, smoother mornings. Creating a routine is as easy as opening the Alexa app and tapping More > Routines, then tapping the plus icon to start creating a custom set of automations. Even if you don’t own every device mentioned in this article, we’re willing to bet you’ll come away with some great ideas for improving that 6 a.m. wake-up time.

A common setup for bedroom technology often involves a smart speaker or smart display, usually on a nightstand or dresser. Smart lights are also pretty common, and even if you don’t own one right now, LED light bulbs and strips are relatively cheap on Amazon. If you couldn’t tell, we’re getting ready to create a set of “wake up” automations. Use the Alexa Routine Builder to create a trigger phrase that you can mumble into your Echo Dot after your morning alarm sounds. Something like “Alexa, hello” should do the trick.

On the actions screen, you can program your LED bulbs and/or devices to fill your room with enough light to move the day forward. If you can’t trust yourself to use a trigger phrase at 6 a.m., you can also program your smart speaker to start playing music when you’re supposed to get up. For a more gradual wake-up routine, you can even program your lights to simulate a sunrise. Set the automation for half an hour before your alarm sounds and choose a color like warm white.

Better yet, you could invest in a set of smart blinds. This option is a little more boutique, but once installed, you can schedule them to start opening at a certain time. After all, there’s nothing like a real sunrise to get in touch with your circadian rhythm.

You’ve managed to get out of bed and are now in the main hub of your home: the kitchen. This is the part of the morning where you need caffeine before you can think about doing anything else, so why not ask Alexa to brew your dawn elixir? Fortunately, there are a handful of coffee makers on the market with built-in Alexa functionality. Thermador is one such brand that offers a few Alexa-enabled machines, and all you have to do is program an action phrase like “Alexa, it’s coffee time” or “Alexa, give me some caffeine.”

You’ll probably need a smart speaker or display in your kitchen, since most Alexa-enabled coffee makers don’t have a built-in microphone. (You can also say/type trigger phrases in the Alexa app.) If you’re the type of person who likes to hear the news and weather forecast in the morning, you can also program your Dot or Show to play headlines as a secondary action.

And if you have personal or shared calendars linked to your Alexa devices, you can even program Alexa to start by showing news and weather, followed by daily and weekly event reminders. Pulling yourself together before heading out into the big, wide world doesn’t have to include a delicious coffee drink, but who says a piping hot dark roast brewed for you can’t be part of your recipe for success?

Remote starting your car isn’t revolutionary anymore, but it’s still an extremely convenient feature, especially during the winter and summer months. For the following Alexa routine to work, you must own a vehicle with Alexa built-in. Fortunately, the list of compatible vehicles continues to grow, with big names like Chevrolet, Ford, and Honda supporting Alexa on specific models.

Your trigger phrase could be as simple as “Alexa, start my car,” in which case the assistant should be able to turn the ignition. But before you start creating your official routine, you may first need to add the car manufacturer skill to the Alexa app. Vehicles are also not listed in the Actions Dashboard options list; According to r/Alexa, you’ll need to select “Custom” to create a vehicle automation. For best results, you may also need to park your car within a certain radius for a solid connection to your home’s Wi-Fi network.

Do you park your car in a garage? There are several Alexa-enabled garage door openers on the market, so you know what that means: making the opener part of your “start my car” routine. Want to go further? You can even program Alexa to automatically start playing your Spotify playlist in the car (the vehicle’s infotainment must support the streaming services you want to use).

You’ve caught up on your daily reminders and finished your cup of coffee. That means it’s time to head out for the day, and if you have a networked security system, you can create an Alexa routine that will make your home more secure, no trigger phrase required. Using a feature called geofencing, your phone can work like a geobeacon. Once you cross a certain invisible threshold, your phone will tell your Alexa at home technology that you’ve left for the day.

To ensure your home is under lock and key, you can schedule actions to ensure all smart locks lock automatically. You can also arm security cameras and various detection sensors that can be in sleep mode. Now is also a good time to add some power management to your Alexa ecosystem. Once Alexa detects you’re out of range, you can pre-program a set temperature for your smart thermostat and use reverse geolocation to detect your arrival home. Once your phone pings your router, the thermostat switches to a preferred “welcome” temperature.

You can even integrate lighting and locking behaviors for when you get home, so you’ll be greeted with warm hues and unlocked doors when you exit your vehicle. Heck, you can even initiate an action that plays the theme song from “Cheers” when you walk through the front door. After all, who wouldn’t want to go somewhere where everyone knows your name?