What you need to know
- Google is rolling out new family-friendly Google Assistant features.
- Broadcast, which is one of the most popular Assistant features, now makes it easier to reach your family wherever they are.
- Google is also introducing two new family bell reminders, along with new stories and games that can be accessed from an Android device or a smart display.
Ahead of Mother's Day this weekend, Google has announced a bunch of new family-friendly Assistant features. You can now reach your family wherever they might be, with the help of Family broadcast, one of the most popular Assistant features.
When you broadcast a message to your family, they will now be able to respond from any device — including smart speakers, smart displays, iPhones, or Android phones. You can easily reply to a broadcast message from the best Android phones by tapping the reply button or by voice.
Google is also rolling out two new Family Bell reminders to remind you to water the plants in your garden and alert kids to keep the house clean. Additionally, you can now end a Family Bell just by saying "stop." The functionality will only be available in English initially, but Google plans to expand it to eight other languages over the coming weeks. These include French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Hindi, and Korean. Another new feature that many users are likely to appreciate is the ability to have Family Bells ring across multiple devices at one time.
The Google Assistant is getting new stories and games as well, which can be accessed from any Android device or a smart display, starting this weekend. You'll also be able to access the "Who Was?" series from Penguin Random House from your smart display by saying, "Hey Google, talk to Who Was Heroes." You can say, "Hey Google, tell me a story" to get a complete list of all the stories that are currently available.
If you love trivia games, you'll be glad to know that you can now play the popular game show "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader" on your Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max. To start playing and win (pretend) money, just say, "Hey Google, talk to 'Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?".
Finally, Google has created new songs to help kids "stay on task and do their chores." You can play these new songs by saying, "Hey Google, Sing the clean up song," "Hey Google, Sing the go to sleep song," or "Hey Google, Sing the brush your teeth song."
