Alternate Timer Sounds

[DVDR_Dog]

Why did the Google Timer no longer associate alternative sounds (I.E. Turkey, Cookie Timer) from the Nest product line. I have a few different models of devices and they all stopped alternate timer sounds and will only respond with the default piano note alarm.

[Dan_A]

Hi DVDR_Dog,

This is not the experience we want you to have, let me help you. A few questions: which Nest speakers are we working with? Can you replicate it on Nest devices? Since the piano note alarm is the only alarm notification set on Nest speakers, could you confirm the devices you have there?

Looking forward to your response.

Best,

Dan

[DVDR_Dog]

Thanks for the reply Dan

The device in question is a Nest hub 5” display (2nd generation?) firmware 9.20221010.3.176. It’s kind of a mutt network, an essentials **bleep** and a gen 2 clock and one plain old hockey puck nest. The only thing that changed is when you asked the hub for a 5 minute dog timer for example it would have a dog barking routine when the timer was up. Note it still announces the the appropriate sound and correctly names the timer at the start.  Now it still responds a dog timer and barks for example, but has the piano sound when time is up. This is a change that happened recently. I have individually reset each member as well as the router with no effect.

[Neronetfi]

my nest speakers also stopped playing the gentle melody for timers and have all started only playing the default timer sound.  I have even tried factory resetting them.

[Dan_A]

Hi folks,

Apologies for the delayed response. Named timers may occasionally be accompanied by an animation (displays only) and sound, depending on the timer name. This applies to food (Example: pizza, pasta, chicken, and turkey), homework, or naps, to name a few.

Let’s isolate this further. Have you tried media or general alarms/timers? Could you specify which Nest display is the issue happening? When you did the reset, was it the same steps as what you see in this link?

Looking forward to your responses.

Best,

Dan

[DVDR_Dog]

OK well you have the specs of the nest hub. I will say for example, hey Google, 5 minute dog timer. It acknowledges the 5 minute timer followed with the musical barking dog that it always has. The difference is when the timer is up, the hub reverts to the generic piano sound. Until maybe a month ago when the timer was up it would announce the time  by the musical dog sound. This is the same across the entire spectrum of the requested sounds that the hub recognizes. It was an entertaining feature and it made Google's offering superior to Amazon's product. Honestly I miss it and can't be the only user who does. I am an IT professional with good networking experience and did the entire reboot procedure correctly so that can't be the problem. Does that help Dan? -Tony

[ACarleyGivant]

I have also noted that the alternative timer sounds have stopped across all my Google home devices. Similarly to the other users, if I set a timer for chicken it will make the chicken sound when the timer is set. But when the timer is complete and going off, it is the default sound. 

I cook a lot, usually several things at a time, so I often have multiple timers going at once. It's definitely problematic when the associated sounds or even the announcement "Your chicken timer is up" no longer go off, because I have no way to know which timer it is. This is one of my favorite features of the Google Home system. It stopped working about a month ago, and like the original poster I miss it. 

[salazarfamily42]

Yup, came here to say all of my themed timers stopped playing the music as well. Really annoying because we constantly have different timers going so the theme music and announcing the name of the timer really helped differentiate which one was done. I guess it's a company wide issue since everyone is experiencing it now.

[Neronetfi]

Wanted to update that today, so far, I have set 2 titled timers and they both played the pleasant timer sounds.   😊

[salazarfamily42]

But were they the themed sounds? Like for pizza or cat meows or meditation? Or was it just the generic jingle sound? I want the themed timer sounds to come back.

[Neronetfi]

I have never set a cat or pizza timer.  I set a dryer timer and she played the pleasant melody she used to play instead of the annoying default timer sound. 

I just tried a two-minute cat timer and I got the melody with cats meowing.  So cool, I didn't know you could do animal timers.  I normally only set a washing machine or dryer timer. 😆

[salazarfamily42]

Ohhhh gotcha! Yep that's what I mean. There are about 50 different special timers you can set and they all have different animations and melodies playing at the end when the timer is up! I use the cat timer when I feed my cats but a month or so ago it stopped working. Good to hear yours is back to normal now! Maybe it's a bug that Google is patching and sending out to all the devices? I'm going to try just restarting mine and hopefully they come back! 😊

[Neronetfi]

I hope a reboot helps.  😊

I'm not sure if you have ever sent feedback through a Nest speaker.  I started doing this after seeing  reports that it greatly helps Google with becoming aware of an issue while also providing them with data they need to fix the problem.  😉 I work in IT and completely understand that.  So I started doing this and have noticed things seem to work themselves out much quicker.  😉

[salazarfamily42]

Yup! Restarting the Google Home did it! I got it to do the cat timer jingle again!! Now to restart all of them. 😅

[Neronetfi]

Great news. 😊

[DVDR_Dog]

So very,very happy the timer sounds have returned. I have a French press coffee pot that must stand for 5 minutes. No better way to time it than the cookie timer. Hip, hip hoo ray!

An aside but this feature was never available on the Lenovo Smart Clocks. Their first "Essentials" is an engineering disaster so I wasn't surprised. However the Smart Clock II is everything that the Essentials Clock wasn't. In my estimation the finest smart clock available. Too bad the Google Easter Eggs didn't carry over to the Lenovo products. That's OK I can live with that. It's still a terrific clock.

Thanks to the engineer(s) who enabled the Google sounds once again! 

[LovelyM]

Hello folks, 

I want to make sure that you no longer have trouble with the themed timers. Our team confirmed that a fix has been rolled out already. If you still encounter some concerns, please let me know so we can take a closer look into it.

Many thanks, 
Lovely

[DVDR_Dog]

I really want to thank Google for taking the time to address this issue. I know it was a trivial matter in the grand scheme of things but did matter to some of us. It's that kind of attention that sets Google apart from the competition and builds a loyal following. Once again thanks for restoring the timer sounds for your users. 

[LovelyM]

Hey there DVDR_Dog,

No biggie! We are glad to know the themed timers are already back up and running for you and for everyone else. We'll keep this thread open for three more days. Please inform us if you have other concerns or questions.

Cheers, 
Lovely 

[Juni]

Hi there,

I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
 

Thanks,

Juni

[Juni]

Hello there,

Just checking in to make sure that you saw our responses. I'll be locking this thread if we don't hear back from you again in 24 hours. Should that happen, feel free to create a new one if you have more questions or have other concerns in the future.
 

Regards,

Juni