How to Set Sleep Timer on Google Home

Google Home smart speaker, front view, with box open.

Firstly, the original Google Home has a sleep timer that you can set and cancel with voice commands! So in this piece, we show how to set sleep timer on Google Home.

to summarize, you start your speaker playing content from an internet radio station, podcast, news source, or some other streaming service. Then, you ask Google Home to play the stream for only as long as you say.

Original Google Home front left view, sitting on a desk.

How to Set Sleep Timer on Google Home

For example, here are some sample commands that we verified to work on our original Google Home voice activated speaker.

- Okay Google, set sleep timer five minutes. [The speaker plays for five minutes, then stops.]
- Hey Google, set sleep timer thirty minutes. [Plays for thirty minutes then goes silent.]
- Hey Google, set sleep timer one hour. [Sets a sixty minute sleep timer, plays for an hour, and then goes silent.]
- Okay Google, create sleep timer ninety minutes. [Sets a sleep timer for 90 minutes, then goes quiet.]
- Okay Google, cancel sleep timer. [Cancels sleep timer if one is pending.]
- Hey Google, delete sleep timer. [Cancels sleep timer if one is pending.]

Furthermore, when you specify a sleep time with one of the above commands, Google Home answers back as follows: “[speaker name] will stop playing in [specified time].” E.g. If you say something like, “Okay Google, set sleep timer ten minutes,” to your speaker named Living Room, the speaker replies, “Living Room will stop playing in ten minutes.”

Moreover, when the sleep timer runs out, the unit says nothing more. Indeed, the only thing to happen at that time is that the speaker stops playing whatever it was playing, and the volume gradually fades.

Finally, you cannot set a sleep timer on the speaker unless it is playing some media.

Easy but useful too!

The Google Home booting in progress. Displaying a multi colored light ring.