Google Assistant can now ‘gently’ wake you up with Philips Hue lights

Google is rolling out a new feature to Google Assistant today that will allow a Google Home device to work in concert with a Philips Hue light setup to gently wake you up in the morning or go to sleep at night by gradually raising or lowering the lights over the course of 30 minutes.

The feature — fittingly called Gentle Sleep & Wake — is designed to mimic a sunrise and sunset. It will let you get the kind of luxury experience that people who can afford homes and apartments with natural light get on a daily basis but through cold, artificial Wi-Fi lightbulbs instead. It’s basically the same thing.

Gentle Wake can be set up either by asking Google Assistant to “Turn on Gentle Wake up,” which will automatically apply the gradual lighting effect to your morning alarm by default, or by asking Google to “Wake up my lights,” or “Sleep my lights,” which will gradually start the brightening or dimming process manually. Users can also schedule manual wake-up or sleep modes up to 24 hours in advance, too.

For now, it seems like the Gentle Sleep & Wake feature only works with Hue smart lights, so if you use another brand of bulbs, you’re out of luck. Gentle Sleep & Wake is available starting today in English in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and India on Google Home devices.