Google Assistant

You can now stop a Google Assistant alarm or timer from any room

Kyle Bradshaw | Sep 18 2020 - 8:58 am PT

One of my favorite ways to use Google Assistant smart displays and speakers is to set timers and alarms, especially in the kitchen. But if you’ve walked away from that speaker into another room when your timer goes off, you had no way to dismiss your alarm. Now, the Google Assistant can stop these timers from anywhere!

Over the past few years, Google has slowly improved your ability to set, view, and stop timers and alarms on Assistant speakers and displays. Little things like saying “stop” instead of “Hey Google, stop” or just using a hand gesture — exclusive to the Nest Hub Max — go a long way, as do presence detecting features that make timers easier to see when you’re not close by.

The latest minor improvement to timers and alarms, reported by Android Police, is that the Google Assistant will be aware of all of the timers in your home, regardless of the smart device you’re asking from. If you have a timer going off in the kitchen, but you’re in the bedroom, you can ask the Assistant to stop that timer like so:

Hey Google, stop the timer in the kitchen.

With that simple command, or any close enough variation of it, the Google Assistant will silence any and all ringing timers in your home. Android Police captured the new feature in action, check it out.

One important thing to note, however, is that you have to use that command on another smart speaker or display; you cannot ask the Google Assistant on your phone to stop the timers on your smart home devices. Also, new Assistant features like this sometimes take a few days to arrive, but every device we tested from was able to remotely dismiss timers.