I visit my family back in Alabama at least two or three times a year, and every time I travel home, I have to coordinate who I’m staying with, whose car I might be able to borrow, and who can take me to the airport when I leave. All of this is fairly simple to accomplish, and thankfully my family is always happy to help out, but it does involve several phone calls to make sure everyone is on the same page and has my plans written down somewhere.
A new feature from Google could simplify this entire process significantly, though. Announced today on Google’s blog, assignable reminders are coming to Google Assistant on phones, speakers and smart displays in the coming weeks. Once the feature arrives, you’ll be able to create and send reminders to other people.
Sending a reminder to someone is just as easy as setting one for yourself. All you have to do is tell Google Assistant: “Hey Google, remind Dad to pick me up at 9PM on Wednesday.” He will promptly receive a notification on his phone, as well as his speaker and smart display, providing he has either of those devices. The reminder will then alert him again at the time I specified, and I can even check my assigned reminders by asking the Assistant.
If you don’t have a specific time in mind, you can also set location-based reminders. For example, if you need your husband to grab milk when he goes out shopping later, just say: “Hey Google, remind Steven to get milk when he gets to Publix.” The Assistant will then buzz Steven when he gets to the grocery store.
If you’re worried about this feature being abused by idiots, the good news is that the only people who you can assign reminders to (or be assigned reminders from) are the people in your Google family group or those who are linked to the same speaker or smart display as you. So your annoying buddies won’t be able to set a daily reminder on your phone to let you know that you are still terrible at fantasy football… not that I’m bitter.
