5 Things You Can Do With a Google Home Mini — and 2 You Can’t

Google is one of the biggest businesses in the game. As it has expanded into home assistants, you can have the entire search engine right in your home. However, Google Home devices can go beyond searching and do so much more.

Whether you have a Google Home or not, it may surprise you to learn of its capabilities. From planning your day to telling you some good news, it has endless possibilities. However, there are still some things the devices can’t do that will most likely eventually make their way into the platform.

5 Things Google Home Mini Can Do

Though there are some things Google developers are working on, there are many more things the device can do. Here are five things you can do with your Google Home.

1. Plan Your Day

If you like to stay organized throughout the day, your Google Home can help. It can coordinate your errands, jobs, school or commitments with traffic, weather and your calendar. It can also adjust to your routines or even include flight details.

Then, if you use your device for to-dos, you can include those, too. Things like grocery lists, reminders, tasks and sending information have never been easier. Planning your day is now digital and easily accessible. 

2. Play Media

Having all the controls in one place can be a small convenience. With a Google Home, you can do just that. From your device, you can play music, podcasts, the radio and more. 

It can also act as your TV control. If you want to change the volume, find a certain channel or use the apps on a smart TV, Google Home can help with it all. You can use the device to turn it off and on. 

3. Switch to Night Mode

At night, things get quieter and lights go off. Your Google Home hub can do the same. As it goes into night mode, it will lower its volume and dim its light. 

You won’t have to worry about remembering to do this either, as you can schedule it to enter night mode at a specific time. The device can also detect a darkening room and adjust accordingly. However, you can change it manually, too, so no matter the time of day, you can have a nice, quiet moment. 

4. Send Messages

Sometimes, your hands are busy with something like unpacking groceries or folding laundry and you can’t always attend to your messages. Google Home can help with that. It can read them to you, and you can reply right then and there.

With just your voice, you can respond to your messages or compose new ones. Messaging has never been so hands-free. Now you can multitask without picking up your phone.

5. Tell You Some Good News

Bad days are inevitable. They bring you down, and it can be hard to think about anything else. However, your Google Home can offer some help when you ask it to tell you some good news.

The device will talk about some good things that have happened in the world today and will hopefully boost your spirits. It’s always a nice reminder to know there’s good happening alongside the bad. Don’t forget, you can also ask it to tell you a joke or a story.

2 Things Google Home Mini Can’t Do

With all of its abilities and helpfulness, Google Home still has some things it can improve on.

1. Track Packages

A Google Home device does not possess the ability to track your package. People love to see the status of their purchases and, while it may not seem like something Google should integrate, Amazon’s Alexa already does.

Since Alexa can track Amazon packages, Google is no doubt working on an integration for the same. Alexa is one of Google Home’s biggest competitions, so Google will want to keep up on every level.

2. Integrate Apple Music or Amazon Music

Your Google Home hub can integrate many music platforms like Spotify, YouTube Music and Google Play Music. However, it still does not offer integrations for Apple Music or Amazon Music

Amazon Music makes sense because Alexa does not integrate Google Play Music. However, Alexa does allow for Apple Music usage. Now, Google Home is working on incorporating Apple Music into its platform to keep up with the competition. 

Google Home Mini Can Simplify Your Life

The Google Home Mini does a great job of making your daily routine so much easier. In the future, it’s likely to add even more innovations that will improve how you get things done.