Bring back family bell! - A desperate plea to Google

[slottjefamily]

Dear Google, 

Please bring back the family bell feature. It was simple, effective and clearly utilized by many families as they have taken to threads to find alternatives.

I now realize how much I have taken this feature for granted, as the chimes have suddenly left our home and once flawless routine is now in chaos. From everything to getting ready for school in the morning, to activities, social events and getting ready for sport - chaos. 

Our mornings once started with a happy chime and custom witty, fun and clever announcements that I poured my heart and soul into. Now? Silence. That is until the chaos ensues.. repeating myself over and over again to put shoes on, brush teeth, hurry up.. the peace that Google brought into our home was swiftly taken away when YOU the developer decided to discontinue a feature that won our hearts.. gone is the time when I would hop in the shower and Google would gently remind the children 737358 times with nothing but patients to get ready step by step in their morning routine. Now my morning, and basically my life, is ruined. 

The decision to integrate into the routines feature was a mistake. It’s clunky and takes more time with too many options. It’s okay to make mistakes, we learn from them. We are only human after all. Just bring it back and we will forgive you. 

Please help families get their routines back on track. Kids don’t listen to their parents.. but they listen to Google.

Sincerely, a desperate Mum. 

[Suc_dpe · Accepted solution]

I understand how valuable the family bell feature was for your household routines. I'll share your feedback with our product team as we continually evaluate feature priorities. In the meantime, have you tried creating routines with speaker announcements as a potential alternative? What specific aspects of family bell did you find most helpful that aren't available in routines?

[Skmohibul20k]

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[ardr78]

I agree entirely with the OP and can answer you that routines are no substitute for family bell. I have set up a few routines to make morning announcements for term time but now we’ve come to a school break I am missing the “pause functionality” of family bell. Instead, each routine needs to be deactivated individually. 
Another problem with routines is that the announcement sounds the same as a broadcast - it would be much better if the initial sound could be customised in the routine to distinguish it from a broadcast. 

[mapiwoni]

My current issue is that since I can no longer access the Family Bell settings, I can't turn the old ones off to switch them to routines.  There appears to be no information in the community to explain how to turn off my inaccessible Family Bells.  Please help.

[Mishez]

Why was it removed. I bought google home for this feature. Im sooo annoyed. Kids on spectrum are lost! 

[Cassandwitch]

The initial sound for family was loud, long, started/finished the announcment and could be heard throughout the house. Routines is a small tinkle and is slept through or ignored because the sound is insignificant and only happens at the beginning.

It can only be played on one speaker at a time instead of being able to select the speakers you want it to be played on.

Its great to have suggested routines but you cannot remove or rename them so it gets messy and confusing going through to amend or change your own.

That's only going off memory, there are so many more features that have been lost or changed that the nest is only used for YouTube and not a single Google service anymore. We miss playing games and calling nest to nest or from their tablets was amazing for the kids to call me so I KNEW they were home and not somewhere random from their phones. Don't even know what the nest is capable of as I don't even know if there is a dedicated nest site to know what lost services were replaced with unless you complain about it or actually look it up. Im very brand loyal but I've no reason to be loyal to google anymore. All the fun has gone...

[AnnieL]

I agree with the above. During my searches, I find people moving to Alexa devices because this is gone. We bought six second-hand Google Nests because that family was moving to Alexa for a similar family bell option. 

[Cassandwitch]

I second this!!! We're a house full of neurodivergents and it was amazing to have a house that ran so smooth. Now, words cannot define how lost,  not only myself but TEENAGERS miss being reminded to function or know how much time they have to get extra jobs in.

Now it's carnage, can you bring it back please???

[Dewdrops_2013]

We run an Orphanage home with the less privileged children. The children are wondering why family bell is not announcing time to know when their routine is due. You guys should have consider this before making our life miserable without it. Please bring back the family bell. It is the best thing that should never be taken away. Please, we demand that family bell should be return to google home. 

[Mishez]

I have children on the spectrum. Their routines are gone! Life has returned to chaos again. Bring back the family bells… PLEASE 

[NievesQuad]

The family bell is a great routine for my house. Without it, we lose track of time and is thrown in chaos. Not everyone has a phone in their at all times or is staring at the clock to remind ourselves of certain things like to be done by a certain time. Family bell is my amazing assistance that helps me manage my house. Routine has to be prompt in order to announce something. What's the point then? My family bell is automatically set to remind my kids and me, not the other way around. And I especially miss the old broadcast setting. It was so much easier to use and navigate. Now I'm just lost. What's the point of having my google assistance when I can't use it's functions to assist me??

[Rabee]

I am in the same dilemma, with my son on the spectrum, the bell was loud enough and long enough to get his attention, I had just started getting use of night time routine and morning routine when all of a sudden after the holidays ,it's all gone. I wanted to set up new routines and everything was gone. It's really hard and routines are very complicated and won't work on all the devices. I need the family bell bell and get a break from the mental exhaustion it takes for me to get the kids ready without it. Please figure something out. And the answer isn't routines.