Character Alarm feature broken, "Sorry, which one...."

[SMcKay]

I just found out about the "Character Alarms" feature. Sadly when I tried it out, it didn't work. I tried it on my Nest Hub Max and one of the smaller Hubs (not sure which generation).

Here's a transcript of me trying to create an alarm on my Nest Hub Max.

Me: Hey Google. Create a character alarm.

Assistant: Great, you can pick Lego, Ninja Turtles, or Hatchimals. Which one would you like?

Me: Ninja Turtles

Assistant: Which one Lego, Ninja Turtles or Hatchimals?

Me: Ninja Turtles

Assistant: Which one Lego, Ninja Turtles or Hatchimals?

Me: Ninja Turtles

Assistant: I couldn't understand which you chose.

Each time I specify Ninja Turtles I see the correct text appear on the Hub display. The hub is correctly recognizing my speech input.

I tried picking Lego too. Same outcome.

I tried specifying the type in my command, "Hey Google, create a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles alarm."

It took me directly to the character picker (Raphael, Leonardo...). Same outcome. I would specify a character, but Assistant couldn't understand.

Seems like the feature is just plain broken 😞

Any chance this'll get fixed?

[JillG]

Hi @SMcKay 

Just tested here on my device. It is broken. Please send feedback and I will also let the team know.  Just tell your device to share feedback and then record the message.

Thanks!

[SMcKay]

Can you just relay the repro steps? It should be sufficient for developers to reproduce the problem.

Me: Hey Google. Create a character alarm.

Assistant: Great, you can pick Lego, Ninja Turtles, or Hatchimals. Which one would you like?

Me: Ninja Turtles

Assistant: Which one Lego, Ninja Turtles or Hatchimals?

Me: Ninja Turtles

Assistant: Which one Lego, Ninja Turtles or Hatchimals?

Me: Ninja Turtles

Assistant: I couldn't understand which you chose.

[JillG]

We have this escalated and investigated.

[Dan_A]

Hi folks,

@JillG, thanks for your assistance.

@SMcKay, that certainly hasn't been easy for you ―  check out this guide for more information: Set and manage alarms and media alarms. 

I tried setting a character alarm on my end and it worked. I need you to try the command in an isolated space in your house without any other noises and see what happens. Also, may I know what country you’re from?

Note:

• Character alarms only work in the US and Canada under English language.
• If your speaker or display isn't connected to Wi-Fi at the time of the media alarm, a general alarm will sound instead. 

Tell me how it goes.

Best,

Dan

[SMcKay]

> that certainly hasn't been easy for you 

Barf.

Did you see that JillG chimed in with "Just tested here on my device. It is broken."

The character picker started, asked who I want (Ninja Turtles is who I want) . I'm in US and using US English on the device. I was in an otherwise silent room with nobody else in the house.

If you'd like my help further debugging the issue I suggest Google pay me. I already was kind enough to report the issue.

[Princesss]

Hi SMcKay,

Thanks for responding. If you have done performing a complete reset and still experiencing the same thing, kindly provide us the cast firmware version of your Google Nest speakers so we can check further what's causing this to happen?

Keep us posted.

Best,

Princess

[Princesss]

Hello there,

Chiming in to see if you still need assistance with this. Hope the previous post helped. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we’ll be locking the thread.
 

Best,

Princess

[SMcKay]

Device firmware version is 7.20220419.2.164

[Princesss]

Hi SMcKay,

We appreciate all your efforts. We'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information then let me know once done.

Best,

Princess

[Princesss]

Hi SMcKay,

Chiming in-- have you had the chance to fill out the form?

Best,
Princess

[Princesss]

Hi SMcKay,

We just want to check if you're already done filling out the form. Please let us know once done so we can check it.

Best,

Princess

[aatienza]

Hey there,

Just checking in to make sure that you've seen our responses. Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours if I won't hear back from you again. Feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.
 

I appreciate the help, Princess.

Thanks,

Archie

[SMcKay]

I've already shared repro steps and firmware number. If there are specific questions, I'll be happy to answer inline here. If there are no more specific questions, then close away.

[Dan_A]

Hello again,

We haven't received your form. Have you had a chance to fill it out? Just in case here's the link.

Regards,

Dan

[Dan_A]

Hi SMcKay,

It seems you haven’t filled out the form yet. We want to help you out with this and we’ll need to look closer into your device’s status. Also, we’ll need sensitive information that you cannot post here for your privacy.

Regards,

Dan

[kaseyfied]

I had the same problem except when I tried with any character, the actual alarm part wouldn't work. Is there any way I can fix this?

[Dan_A]

Hi kaseyfied,

I'm sorry to hear you're also having the same concern but with a slight difference. Have you already tried the steps above? Are you able to use the character alarm on your device? What kind of Nest Hub do you have?

Keep me posted.

Best,

Dan

[Dan_A]

Hey there,

I wanted to follow up and see if you still need help. Please let me know if you are still having any concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Thanks,

Dan