While talking to your smart home is intuitive, there are instances when voice commands can be quite disruptive. One notorious example is telling Assistant to turn off lights at night and getting back a verbal confirmation. Google is now replacing that loud response with a simple “chime” reply.

In a post announcing the new behavior, Google described the annoying scenario — especially when you’re about to sleep — of receiving a loud response when shutting off smart lights.

You, about to fall asleep: “Ok Google, turn off the bedroom lights”. Google Home responds, a bit louder than you’d like: “Ok, turning off 2 lights”. You, now wide awake, but at least the lights are off.

Going forward, issuing a turn off command to a Google Home or Nest Hub in the same room as the lights in question will confirm the action with just a “chime” reply. This sound is much less disruptive than Assistant’s usual “Ok, turning off lights.”

Other commands that return the simple tone include increasing the brightness, dimming lights, and “much more.” In terms of connected devices, this change is not limited to smart bulbs. It applies to switches and plugs that are identified as lighting appliances in the Google Home app.

For example, if your desk lamp is connected to a smart plug called “desk lamp” then this new feature will apply; but, if the plug is just called “desk” the Assistant will give a full response.

The new Nest Hub and Google Home lights reply is rolling out now and already live for some users.

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