5 Clever Ways You Can Use Smart Speakers In Your Home – BGR

If you have a smart speaker at home, but are only using it to play music, you’re missing out on some of the best ways to use it. That’s because those devices made by Amazon, Google, Apple, and others made by major brands can have more utility for your daily routine than just serving to stream playlists or answer some simple questions, and once properly set up, they can simplify many things with only voice commands.

There’s nothing wrong with sticking to the basics, especially because many smart speakers handle those tasks well, and for owners, that’s more than enough, but they’re also capable of doing much more. Those devices come with a large ecosystem of routines, integrations, and other connected services that can tie together all the other smart gadgets that you have in your house. When used well, they can work like a hub that makes it easier to control your home.

They’re also useful in many more ways than most people think. A smart speaker can help with all kinds of daily tasks, from setting timers and reminders to checking the weather, playing live radio, or giving quick answers while your hands are busy. More importantly, it can also act as a simple voice-controlled hub for other devices around the house, making everyday routines a lot more convenient.

One of the best uses for a voice assistant is being able to control all of the other smart devices in your home using only voice commands. After setting everything up through the companion app to take full advantage of your smart home, like to turn the lights on or off, adjust the volume, and do anything else, without needing to grab your phone every time to do the same.

And there are a lot of moments in the day when that matters more than you’d think, since there are many situations, like when cooking, cleaning, or when your hands are busy, that you don’t want or can’t stop what you’re doing just to use the phone. So, having a way to solve this with your own voice can add some convenience for those users who wish to get more from their smart speakers.

Another thing worth mentioning is that you don’t need a separate app for every device anymore. One voice command can take care of everything at once, which keeps your phone from having its memory filled with a lot of apps that you only use occasionally and also makes your smart home feel much simpler to manage, since you need only one device to control everything.

Smart speakers are also helpful because they make it easier for you to find information that you need every day. It’s possible to ask for weather updates, but voice assistants can also help you all day with more information and without the need for your phone. They can handle unit conversions while cooking, give you real-time traffic updates before you leave home, and there are essential voice assistant commands you need to start using to make the most of all that.

And when location settings are enabled properly, it’s also possible to ask for local information, without using your phone. So instead of browsing the best restaurants or an open pharmacy in the region, your smart speaker can tell nearby options in seconds, which is especially useful when you need something quickly.

Another good use for a smart speaker is to keep track of daily tasks, which can be enabled by syncing it with your calendar. After that, just ask for upcoming appointments, meeting times, or what is left to do for the day without needing to check it manually. Voice assistants can also take some notes and add new events for you, giving a quick way to stay organized and avoid forgetting important commitments.

One of the easiest ways to get more from your smart speaker is to set routines for the busiest times of the day. For instance, rather than giving the smart speaker a number of commands each morning, it is possible to set a command called ‘Good Morning’ that will turn on the lights, provide the weather forecast, and turn on other smart devices, especially since Alexa does some things better than Google Home when it comes to routines. While this is a small improvement, it is enough to make your mornings a lot more relaxing.

At the same time, it is also possible to create some routines for nighttime. So rather than having to check if all the lights are off, doors are locked, and alarms are set up properly every time before going to bed, it’s easier to give a voice command, and it will handle everything for you automatically. This is an advantage because it will save you time each day walking from room to room before sleep.

This may look like you’re just saving a few seconds here and there during your day, but those routines also help you cut down on the small tasks that pile up over the course of a busy week. So, like other smart uses that you can have with your smart speaker, it may seem minor at first, but after starting to use those commands, it’s hard to imagine going back to manual tasks.

You can also listen to live radio instead of asking your voice assistant for a quick news summary every day if you prefer that. It’s possible to connect your smart speaker to a lot of online stations and keep up with the news, discussions, and other coverage all day long just by asking for it.

This is especially useful for those who like to keep up with the news in real time, since listening to a live radio can provide better coverage and context of something than the short briefings created by smart speakers. It can also be a great option when some background audio feels welcome during chores or work, but a regular music playlist does not quite fit the mood.

Another reason listening to the radio on a smart speaker can be so useful is the variety it adds to your routine. Instead of picking songs or podcasts every time, live radio brings a more spontaneous experience for those listening, since it has hosts, interviews, call-ins, and also local coverage if you’re listening to a station next to where you’re living. It is an easy way to hear fresh content throughout the day without having to constantly choose what to play next.

If you want to use your voice assistant for something particular, but it does not seem to handle that feature by default, it’s possible to search for some new skills on the companion app. There are many things that your smart speaker is capable of doing, but to unlock more of them often requires a little extra setup by the user.

Browsing for new skills can make your device much more useful, since it’s possible to find skills for recipes, language practice, or even some games to pass the time and have uses that go far beyond the default experience. However, it’s also important to note that this is something more commonly associated with Amazon Alexa, which has an open ecosystem with features like Alexa+ that keep expanding what users can do.

That said, Google and Apple devices don’t share the same capabilities as Alexa, but they also have their own alternatives. Google Assistant offers extra actions and integration with Gemini AI, while Apple has expanded Siri mainly through compatible apps installed on an iPhone or iPad, but both have some potential to be unlocked with that.