Users will soon be able to assign reminders to their family and friends using the Google Assistant. The new feature will function via the Family Group feature. Once a reminder is set, say by a parent for their children, it will appear on a smartphone or a Google Assistant-powered Smart Display. However, Google says it can work for friends as well as roommates, all that is needed is the user to be part of an opt-in group of trusted fellow Assistant users.
The new feature is named “Assignable Reminders.” It will be made available to Android and iOS users is the US, UK, and Australia in the next few weeks. It will work on smartphones, Google Assistant-powered speakers, smart displays, and other devices with support for Google's virtual assistant.
The Assignable Reminders feature is pretty straight-forward. It lets you send a reminder to anyone who is on your contacts list as well as in your Google family group. However, Google currently limits family groups to six people. Additionally, these people must be hooked to a Google Assistant-powered speakers, smart displays, and other devices with support for Google's virtual assistant to send or receive a reminder.
Users can set reminders to repeat, check a history of reminders, or even create a reminder with voice or text and set it to show up at a certain time or to pop up when the receiver is at a certain location.
To assign a reminder, you need to say to your Assistant, “Hey Google, remind Pikachu to make funny faces at 8pm.” Once you have assigned a reminder, you can check it with simple commands like “Hey Google, show me my reminders for Pikachu.” To quickly see which reminders you have assigned to your friend named Pikachu, you can ask, “Het Google, what are my reminders for Pikachu?”
On the privacy front, if you are using a smart home device, Google will use its voice recognition feature, Voice Match to ensure that only registered users are able to assign reminders.
According to the tech giant, “Assignable reminders on the Google Assistant help families and housemates better collaborate and stay organized while at home or on the go."
To get started, you can create a family group here.