Google Assistant and Calendar Reminders Merge into Tasks App
Google Assistant and Calendar are combining their Reminder feature and shifting it to the Google Tasks app. The move will also upgrade Reminders, which has sometimes struggled after its initial release in 2017.
Task Reminders
Merging the Reminders from Assistant and Calendar onto Tasks should help streamline its function by compiling the access points from voice, web, and mobile apps to Tasks. The change expands voice control of Tasks by letting Google Assistant users vocally add a task through their phones, as well as smart speakers and displays. You can see an example in the image on the right. Anything that users ask the voice assistant to remember and remind them about will be available in Google Tasks though on iOS and Android apps, in addition to Google Workspace platforms like Gmail and Drive. If the user specifies a time and date they want a reminder, all of those devices will send an alert.
“Bringing Assistant Reminders capabilities to Google Tasks also opens up new and better ways to capture your to-dos using the hands-free power of Assistant. Just say, “Hey Google, remind me to call dad every Thursday at 6pm” to your mobile or smart display and it will show up in your Tasks list, as well as on Google Calendar,” Google vice president of product management Ilya Brown explained. “We are continuing to invest in Google Tasks and expand its capabilities to help you capture, organize and accomplish all you have to get done. Moving reminders into Google Tasks is one step closer to helping people effortlessly get things done, and we are so excited to bring it to you.
Google had hinted that changes were coming to the pipeline back in June when it began shutting down the option to set reminders for other people, and tie reminders to a location, both prerequisites foAssignablenables tool that let users set reminders for others based on where they are located. At that point, Google seemed to be hinting that it could replace them with the rumored Memory, techology for powering Google Assistant to remember and organize its data. That seems less likely now, but the rearranged software does fit with Google’s overall state for trying to make voice AI more efficient.
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Google Assistant is Ending Assignable and Location-Based Reminders
