Create, run and change routines

Create a routine

Routines let your home respond when something happens, only if other checks pass, and then carry out actions in the order you choose. The web and phone apps both use the same three parts: When, Only if, and Do.

1. Open Routines for your home. On the web, select New routine or choose a template and use it as your starting point. On iPhone and Android, open Routines and start the routine editor from there. New routine [plus]New routine
2. Enter a name for the routine and confirm you are editing the correct home.
3. In When, add one or more triggers. You can use a spoken phrase, a schedule, sunrise or sunset, Motion detected when a supported camera or sensor reports it, Someone comes or goes, or A device changes when a supported device reading changes.
4. In Only if, add any checks that must all be true. You can use a time range, selected days, daylight or darkness, home presence, or A device is in a state when a supported device reading must match what you set.
5. In Do, add the actions you want. You can control a room or the whole house, control One device, Play music on Sonos, Say something, Wait, Notify, Run a routine, or set Home Security.
6. If you add a coffee machine power-on step, review the options shown under that step. The setting called When the coffee is ready lets you keep the machine room or Choose announcement rooms. If you want later steps to stay behind the spoken result, turn on Wait for the ready announcement.
7. Arrange each action in the order you want it to happen. A later failure does not mean earlier actions were undone.
8. Save the routine. On the phone, a new routine is saved with Create routine. When you edit an existing routine, use Save. Save [check]Save

A time range works across two times, and the same time for both ends means all day. The home's saved address, sunrise, and timezone are used for sun-based timing.

A Say something step uses its selected rooms. You can leave the message volume empty so each room uses its own announcement setting, or set a message volume for that step. On phone, Say something also supports selected rooms and optional message volume.

For a coffee routine, Choose announcement rooms can include one or more speaker rooms in the current home. If no room can be used for the announcement, ALYT uses a phone notification instead.

What you should see after saving

After you save, the routine appears in the Routines list with its name, icon, trigger summary, and On or Off state.

• If the routine has no automatic trigger, it shows that it runs only when you press Run.
• You can open what it does to review When, Only if, and Do.
• The list also shows whether the routine is Local or Needs the cloud.
• If your home has a current routines copy on its assigned hub, you may also see hub status information above the list.

Useful actions are shown on the routine row. You can run it manually with Run now. Run now [play]

The last result is shown in words. Open the routine details if you need run details for each step.

Run a routine

Running a routine manually is separate from automatic triggers. Turning a routine Off stops its automatic triggers, but it can still be run by hand.

1. Open Routines and find the routine you want.
2. Select Run now to start it immediately. On the web, Run now deliberately ignores the routine's conditions. Run now [play]Run now
3. Wait for the result to appear in the routine's last run area.

A manually started routine can still include waiting steps, announcements, music, or cloud actions. The action order stays as saved.

If a coffee machine routine uses Wait for the ready announcement, later steps do not continue until power on is confirmed, the machine reaches READY, and the announcement completes in the selected rooms.

Change, disable, or delete a routine

1. Open the routine you want to change.
2. Choose its edit option and update the name, triggers, conditions, steps, or step order.
3. Save your changes. Save [check]Save
4. To stop automatic triggers without deleting the routine, turn it Off from the Routines list.
5. To remove the routine completely, use its Delete option and confirm.

If the same routine changes somewhere else while you are editing on phone, the app can refresh an untouched draft. If you already made local edits, the phone warns before replacing them.

Home Security uses a separate approval step for automatic alarm changes. Saving or enabling a routine never grants that approval.

How routine actions behave

ALYT does not assume that a requested change definitely finished just because it was sent. Check the result if something seems wrong.

• When a device has freshly confirmed the requested state, ALYT can leave it alone instead of sending the same change again.
• A missing or stale reading is not treated as confirmation.
• The final light state matters. For example, if your steps would end with one lamp at 15 percent, ALYT aims for that final light state directly unless you add a Wait to make intermediate states intentional.
• Curtain movement remains separate and is complete only when the motor reports the requested position and that it stopped.
• If a light or speaker action was accepted but not proven finished, you may see playback unconfirmed or another unconfirmed result in the history instead of a successful completion.
• A Say something step in selected rooms follows each room's quiet hours and restores previous Sonos playback and volume when the provider confirms those operations.

If a command was accepted but not confirmed, review the run details before trying again, especially for motors or locks.

Home Security approval

A routine can include Home Security as an action, but automatic alarm changes need separate approval from the home owner.

• Manual running uses the current person's authority.
• Scheduled, sensor, and other automatic triggers require separate approval for the complete routine.
• If the routine changes after approval, that approval can become outdated and must be reviewed again.
• OFF disarms the whole home.

On phone, Approve or Approve the change records the review you are looking at, and Yes, allow it confirms that same review. Not now cancels the approval step.

Troubleshooting