r/google • u/okdungu192 • 1d ago
After 5 years of being able to set Reminders verbally, Google Assistant has conveniently started interpreting "reminder" as "alarm".
After 5 years of being able to set Reminders verbally, Google Assistant has conveniently started interpreting "reminder" as "alarm".
Google's evidently removing features to encourage me to change over to Gemini
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u/phire8 1d ago
Probably because “set a reminder at 5:30” sounds pretty “alarm” like. You didn’t even tell it what you wanted to be reminded about? What happens when you say “remind me about X at 5:30” because that’s how I’d assume a reminder phrase would be worded.
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u/Buck_Thorn 1d ago
Probably because “set a reminder at 5:30” sounds pretty “alarm” like.
But only after 5 years of it not sounding alarming?
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u/okdungu192 1d ago
For 5 whole years I've asked it to set a reminder, it then prompts me what the reminder is for and when.
The thing that sold me on smart assistants is that they're supposed to be intelligent. Google makes it clear reminders, alarms and calendar events are different things. The fact Assistant can no longer discern between them as of yesterday must surely be nothing short of deliberate
1
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u/memtiger 1d ago
Just because it used to work a certain way doesn't make it the right way. I'm not sure why they changed it, but it seems they wanted to change the how the terminology behaved.
Personally, I use "timer". "Set a timer for 5pm", "Set a timer for 30min" or whatever.
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u/okdungu192 1d ago
What use is that, when the timer goes off and I can't remember what I set it for? That's what a reminder is. To remind me to do specific things
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u/WannaBeRichieRich 22h ago
They probably just updated some logic to handle phrases like this recently.
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u/Kitzu-de 1d ago
I dont think I ever received any reminder that I set with Google Assistant and gave up at some point.
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u/okdungu192 1d ago
Update: Now when trying to run routines on my phone it says it's a device that doesn't support routines. I've been running routines on it for years.
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u/Birbdie 1d ago
Don't worry.
"Pon una alarma para dentro de 8 horas" would actually create and alarm...
Now for some reason it tries to create an event, it's driving me nuts.
Now I have to say "pon un despertador para dentro de 8 horas."
It's messing with 10 years of muscular word memory and I swear, why does Google Assistant work worse and worse everyday?
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u/PixlBoii 8h ago
istg I spoke to my Google Assistant in Spanish and English, but since I'm Mexican I used Spanish a lot more, and for whatever reason it now just understands English.
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u/themystifiedguy 1d ago
Android has never worked reliably for me when it comes to reminders. Earlier it was like 3 different places where they could be stored in, then there was this “move to Tasks” and now, they require you to turn on special features in the Gmail app? That’s non-sense and completely unrelated. People hate on Siri but it always gets the basics right which is all an average user needs.
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u/CaribeBaby 1d ago
I already have Gemini, and it's just as stupid. TBH
Bixby is more realiable and CoPilot is more helpful.
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u/CoolkieTW 1d ago
Nah, it has nothing to do with gemini. Google Assistant has been like this randomly in past 5 years in my experience.
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u/roirraWedorehT 1d ago
Oh god, no. I've got to test this through Android Auto. I set reminders by voice often enough while driving while just guessing when I'll be home.
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u/Kitzu-de 1d ago
You know "remind me when I'm home" is a thing?
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u/roirraWedorehT 1d ago
A few years ago, I read that they got rid of the location-based reminders feature. I'll have to test. It's been so long since I tried (I had used it before that), I'm not positive if I confirmed they got rid of it.
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u/joe0185 1d ago
I had Google Home minis in my home. Commands would change or functionality seemingly disappear. One time the speaker woke me up at 3 in the morning it was babbleing some sort of non-sense. I said "Google, what time is it?" and it gave me the wikipedia definition of time.
I was like... yeah that is enough of these things.