Google Assistant Family Bell coming to phones and adding checklists

Abner Li | Aug 11 2021 - 9:00 am PT

Ahead of the new school year, Assistant is gaining a handful of features to help families organize their day. Assistant’s popular Family Bell sees a pair of phone and visual updates, while Google Search is also adding study aids.

Amid the newness of virtual learning last August, Google introduced the ability for Assistant to create a bell schedule that announces various events (starting class, taking a break, etc.) throughout the day.

Besides Smart Displays and speakers, Google Assistant Family Bell will soon ring on phones and tablets. Meanwhile, the feature on Nest Hubs can soon be accompanied by a fullscreen checklist (as seen above):

I’ve been testing this feature and it’s been a great way to remind my kids what they need to do before heading out the door for school in a fun way— things like making their beds, getting dressed and brushing their teeth. When a task is completed, my kids enjoy the fun, on-screen celebratory animations and sounds that appear.
Google

Speaking of scheduling, morning Assistant Routine can soon be automatically triggered after you dismiss your wakeup alarm.

To set this up, I’ll simply add “dismiss an alarm” as the start to my morning Routine.

Google Search additions include an interactive periodic table of elements that includes a 3D model — great on large screens, while an Assistant “Live Translation” button will appear on mobile when searching for a word or phrase.