As part of my off-hours home automation work for myself and my neighbors, I found it highly annoying that there isn’t an easy way to shut down either a Google Home device or an Amazon Echo device. These devices are designed to listen for keywords to activate, but there are times that you don’t need that type of interaction with the device. It looks like I’m not the only person who has had this complaint or who has come up with a workaround. This blog post shows my quick workaround to shut down my Google home.

In my environment, I use various devices, including a set of smart plugs by Kasa. The Kasa plugs are beneficial to turn on and off multiple items in the house and integrate nicely with both Google Home and Amazon Echo devices. The trick I used was to plug my Amazon Echo Hub into a Kasa outlet. I then named the Kasa plug “yourself.” The result is I say, “Hey Google, turn yourself off,” and it does. If I want to re-activate the device, I can turn on the plug manually or use the Kasa application to restart the device.

A screenshot is of the Kasa app is below in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Kasa mobile user experience

For those who looked closely at the graphic above, I also use Kasa smart switches to do a full shutdown for my Nest Cameras, as a full shutdown is occasionally required based on my experiences.

A Kasa 2 plug pack is available on Amazon for less than $20 (the one I was using is a power strip that was about $30).

The Google Home solution works well to integrate with a variety of different devices. For example, I connect with my router, my robovac, my security system, and my smart switches in my environment. It’s even connected to my washer, dryer, and dishwasher. The screenshot below shows how Google Home shows devices based on their location.

Figure 2: The Google home mobile user experience