Jordan O'BrienThe Google Home Hub and Pixel smartphones both support a gentle wake-up feature that gradually brighten the display in anticipation for the alarm going off. While that feature is useful, the light doesn’t often make a huge impact, and does little to mimic the sun. That’s why Google is now extending that functionality to Philips Hue devices.
Gentle Sleep & Wake uses the Google Assistant’s compatibility with Philips Hue smart lights to mimic the sunrise or sunset, depending on the time of day. Over the course of 30 minutes, the Hue lights will either dim to off when the user is trying to sleep, or come on and brighten the room to help the user wake.
To get started with Gentle Sleep & Wake, users will need to activate the feature on their Google Assistant with the following commands
- “Turn on Gentle Wake up” to have your daily morning alarms pair with gradual brightening. Make sure to enable Gentle Wake Up on the same Google Home device the alarm is on.
- “Wake up my lights” or “Hey Google, wake up my lights in the bedroom at 6:30 a.m.” This will start to gradually brighten the Philips Hue lights at the time set and can be set up to 24 hours in advance.
- “Sleep my lights.” You can also say, “Hey Google, sleep the lights in the living room.” This will gradually start to dim your Philips Hue lights and can be programmed up to 24 hours in advance.
The Gentle Sleep & Wake feature is available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Singapore and India in English only. For other ways to wind down at the end of the day, users can also tune out noises from street traffic or construction next door by saying, “Hey Google, play white noise.”