Google has just announced a handy new feature to help you assign tasks and reminders across your family so you don't end up doing everything yourself.
The feature is called 'assignable reminders' and it's coming to the Google Assistant on phones, Google Home speakers and smart displays, such as the Google Home Hub which is £30 off at Currys and John Lewis right now.
Assignable reminders lets you create reminders for anyone in your Google family group or those who have their accounts linked to the same smart display or speaker as you.
Examples of reminders include:
"Hey Google, remind Theresa to pay rent on the last day of every month."
"Hey Google, remind Boris to take out the trash at 8pm."
This feature will also work for location-based reminders, so you can set reminders to trigger when someone reaches a certain location rather than at a certain time. "Hey Google, remind Jeremy to do his homework when he gets home", perhaps.
Google also suggests that you can use it to send someone a note of encouragement when they need it the most such as "Hey Google, remind Mary that she'll do great on tomorrow's exam," – although, honestly, I'd suggest in that instance a text or phone call might be more appropriate.
When you assign a reminder the person you assign it to will get a notification on both their Google Assistant-enabled smart display and phone when the reminder is created. They will get notified again at the exact time you asked your Assistant to remind them. If you want to see what reminders you've assigned to Boris, you can say, "Hey Google, what are my reminders for Boris?"
As a recipients of such reminders you may be happy to know that you do have the ability to block anyone from sending you reminders through the new assignable reminders section in Assistant Settings.
The feature is rolling out over the next few weeks in English in the US, UK and Australia, and will also work with Google Nest Hub Max when it is available later this Autumn.
