You’ll have to trust Gmail or Chat sometime in the future
Back in 2019, Google launched reminders that can be assigned in Assistant, offering users in supported markets a way to select specific family members to perform duties, pick up groceries, or anything else on the to-do list. In practice, it worked surprisingly well, making it easy for partners, spouses or roommates to make sure the tasks were performed on time – although it could provide some passive-aggressive comments between relatives. Unfortunately, it seems that the function is not long for this world.
Google updated its Assistant Reminders support page today, giving it a new title to remove “assign” from the original headline and to add an explanation that the feature will soon disappear. Currently, under the “Manage Assigned Reminder Settings” subheading, a new alert displays the following information:
Important: The ability to assign reminders to others disappears soon. You can still assign reminders in Google Chat or Gmail.
Combined with the change of title, it seems almost certain that Google is moving away from reminders that can be assigned in Assistant. Although the feature is still available in Chat and Gmail, it is not quite as useful as voice actions. You need an app on your phone or computer to manually add and assign tasks this way.
That said, Android Police Editor-in-Chief Daniel Bader – who lives in Canada – still sees the old title without any warning on the support page. It could come down to a geo-specific constraint, though it would be strange to see Google remove the feature from the US and does not other areas in North America. We contacted Google for comments and to specifically narrow down when this tool might leave Assistant.
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