Do you sometimes have to nag your significant other to take out the trash on Monday night? Now, you can do so in a more passive-aggressive way by sending them a reminder through the Google Assistant instead of in person.
“Hey Google, remind Alex to take out the trash at 8pm,” is all it takes. Your family members (or roommates that you’ve added to your Google family group) will then get a notification on their phones and/or Assistant-powered Smart Displays.
“Assignable reminders on the Google Assistant help families and housemates better collaborate and stay organized while at home or on the go,” explains Google. “This means you can now create reminders for your partner or roommate to do things like pick up the groceries, pay a recurring bill, walk the dog — or send them a note of encouragement when they need it the most (‘Hey Google, remind Mary that she will do great on tomorrow’s exam.’)”
I’m pretty sure Mary would prefer a bit of human contact with that encouragement, but sometimes the Google Assistant is all you have.
Technically, for all of this to work, you need to have the person you are sending the reminder to in your contacts list and in your Google Family group. You also need to set up Voice Match for them for this to work on a smart display or speaker. Parents can set up accounts for children under 13 through Family Link.
This new feature will become available in English on phones, speakers and Smart Displays in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Like with all Google reminders, you can set times and locations for your messages to pop up.
Mercifully, you can block people from sending you reminders, too, thanks to a new toggle in the Assistant Settings menu.