Google Nest Mini Themed Timers Stopped Working

[tega]

Themed timers on Google Nest Mini stopped working. They used to work up to about 3 weeks ago.

I have a Google Nest Mini. It used to have themed timers so when the timer was up it would chime in the specific theme. But this no longer happens. For example, I used to be able to set a cookie timer and when the timer was up, the cookie theme would play. Now when I set a cookie timer for 20 minutes, the Nest says, “setting 20 minute timer called cookie, starting now” and the cookie theme plays for 2 seconds. But when the timer is up, it plays a default chime. I have used numerous themed timers in the past (chicken, turkey, pizza, happy birthday, dog, cat, etc.) but now the Nest plays only the default chime when a themed timer is up. How do I get the cute themed timers back? I tried all of the obvious thins but they did not fix the problem. I did a factory reset and set the Google Nest up again. I change the Assistant language to English US and did a reboot (several times).

Anyone else have this problem?

1st Generation

MNP A4RHOA

System Firmware 415414

Cast Firmware 3.73.415414

[traycee]

I wish I had that problem - must be nice to have a functioning unit instead of a paperweight. 

[ChristyintheATL]

Same problem here. Our Google Nest has stopped displaying themed timers, nor does it play the unique sound for them. It seems to have stopped sometime in the last week or two. I’ve read about this happening in April 2023 and Google eventually fixed it. I’m hoping they can figure out a fix again. We often have multiple timers going at one time and the themed display and sounds help identify which timer is going off. And of course there’s the cuteness factor. Bring back my clucking chicken and sizzling grill! 😁

[sstephaniefrym]

I have a Nest Hub in the kitchen. I used to have themed timers, for example, "set a tea timer" and it used to have a tea kettle come up and the alarm sound would be different. The same for a bunch of stuff; chicken, laundry, etc. 

This is no longer the case. It still names the timer with what I say, but the alarm is the same for all. 

I liked it, but can't figure out how to get it back. Is it a setting somewhere perhaps? I already factory reset the device and nothing seems to work. 

[Aiden1]

It's not buried in a setting anywhere.  I found your post because I have the same problem.  My most used ones were pasta and rice themed timers but those have been gone since probably late June maybe.  

Sorry you went through factory resetting with no improvement.  I know how frustrating that is.  

This is either a bug in Google assistant/Google Home or it was an intentional removal of a feature on the part of Google.  I'm not sure which yet.

[RobinTurner]

Can we get an official response to this? The only charming thing that was remaining with this thing, and it seems like it's been removed?

[ChristyintheATL]

I noticed last night that it still plays a brief snippet of the themed sound when you set the timer (e.g. chicken timer clucks), but the usual themed image isn't displayed and the themed sound doesn't play when the timer ends. This would seem to point to some sort of bug preventing the themes from working correctly (which is what happened in last year). If Google had intentionally disabled this feature, they would have also disabled the themed sound when you set the timer.

[FWoollard]

Its the same for me, i didn't use multiple timers that often but it was a bit of fun that might be taken away from us, which is quite sad

[Koookie11]

We are also having issues with our timers and not having themes is not only boring, but very upsetting for our toddlers who loved all the themes.

[Alpackie]

Timer animations are also not working for us! The unique timer sound still plays when setting the timer, but then a generic sound plays when the timer goes off. I've tried changing the assistant language and rebooting to no avail

[HABOmanko]

Same on Google Nest Hub 2nd.
Sound plays at the start of timer, there is no icon and when tiemr goes off it just play the default sound and animation.

[PSteward]

Any update on this?  My wife loved the themes.  I don't know why everything has to go backwards.  I hope it's not some woke reason it's gone.....

[Jfen001]

We lost this function too a few weeks ago. UK and Australian English were fine, now also we get a brief theme tune at the beginning, but generic end tune, and no icons at all. 

An official response would be good (it looked like this happened last year and they seemed to jump on it then). If it has gone, it would just be nice to know. 

[mehv]

Having that same issue here. Thought it was due to it being boxed up for the last several weeks during a move. I did a factory reset which didn't change anything. I really do miss that feature. 

[gothay]

UGH!  Just realized it on my Nest Home Max, and then again on a 2nd gen screen.  Same thing, themed timers are now gone - just says "Spaghetti" or "Pizza" timer.  Hope they fix/bring this back.  Bummer

[ChristyintheATL]

Does anyone know how we might get the attention of Google tech support in this thread? It seems they sometimes monitor these posts for tech issues. It would be great if someone from Google commented to let us know if they're aware of this bug and working on a fix. 

[daveroblloyd]

Just chiming in to say I'm having the same issue here in the UK, have done everything that was suggested regarding the same issue from last year and nothing has worked. Seems like they're not in such a hurry to fix it this time, between this and them recently bricking a couple of minis I had, fair to say I'm a bit more than disappointed in how this is going

[BAtyeo]

Same issue here! Cmon Google, what's wrong with having a bit of whimsy?!?

[Jfen001]

I noticed yesterday that the icon (at least for the dog timer) returned! The timer got stuck on zero at the end, kind of frozen, but icon was back (but cute the theme tune didn't play). Anyone else noticed this?

[PSteward]

Yes, thanks for update.  Ice cream works too.  Apparently pizza and pasta still don't.   

[ChristyintheATL]

I just tested ours and it's still not displaying the themed graphics or playing the sound when the timer ends. Maybe there's an update that hasn't pushed to our device yet.   

[Jfen001]

Isn't it so random! I saw that the coffee timmer graphic is back at our end 

[ChristyintheATL]

Correction: the themed icons and names of the timer seem to be working again. When the timer ends, the themed gifs are back but the themed music is not, despite the music playing for a second when the timer first starts. It’s just the generic beeping tone. 

[Twirlip]

I found this functionality very useful and am disappointed google hasn’t replied in this thread. It brings back memories of how they bricked many users’ FitBits a year or so ago. There’s tons of news coverage about it. Their customer service wasted peoples time by giving them technical “advice” to fix the problem, when in fact the devices could never work again: Google never fixed the bug. It was equivalent to someone stealing your $100 watch. To add insult to injury, They didn’t send out any compensation to those affected; only if you were willing to spend more time with customer support could you get a $35 coupon. 

[ACarleyGivant]

I am also having this issue. It is especially difficult since I often have more than one timer running at one time. It plays the theme to start with, but not when the timer goes off. I cook a lot and rely on the themed timers to keep myself on track. It would be great to see a response to this or a recommended fix.

[Jfen001]

We are also finding things to be very odd. We usually get the icon now, but the end alarm for themed timers now just gives us two jingle beeps and then nothing OR it plays the theme tune. Annoyingly, if you say "stop" before it gets to the theme tune there's no way to stop it other than by tapping the screen... I'm like, how hard can it be to roll it back to when we had full functionality. Google people, feel free to reach out of anything is unclear, clearly we all want this resolved. The current set up is still not working 😕

[tega]

UPDATE: My theme timers started working again today. The following timers work for me: 

Work, egg (same as chicken), fish, Coffee (same as tea), television (same as game show), cookie, birthday (same as party), Christmas (same as Hanukah), puppy, kitty, nap, vegetable, turkey, pizza (same as spaghetti  and lasagna), laundry (same as dryer), dishwasher, hamburger (same as meatloaf and steak), school bus, duck.

Are there any other timers that anyone knows of?

[ChristyintheATL]

There's also one for grill (makes a sizzling sound and shows a BBQ grill).   

[mehv]

I was pleasantly surprised last night as well when my bread timer went off to the tune of “Do you know the muffin man” instead of just a regular timer sound! Hopefully this means they repaired the timers and my kitchen alarms will have happy sounds again

[leeotts]

I was just talking to my wife about this! Themed timers were the unsung heroes of our kitchen. My chicken nuggets used to get the royal cluck cluck treatment, and our pizza nights felt like an Italian restaurant with the perfect musical cue. Now? Just sad, soulless beeps. How am I supposed to know when my perfectly crisped nuggets are ready without a poultry soundtrack? Google, you've broken our hearts (and our meal vibes)! Please, bring back the glory days of themed timers—our culinary lives depend on it

[tega]

Very recently, my timers worked for a few days (maybe a week) and just as suddenly as they started, they stopped working again. There is no apparent reason why they started working or why they stopped.

[mehv]

My themed timer also broke again yesterday. They would give one chime of the standard timer alarm but then be silent which is worse because I nearly burned my food because of it. 

[BAtyeo]

Same here! I went from no themed timers, which was, meh, to no alarm sounding at all last night! Looks like they tried to fix it, and completely failed.

[kappadappa]

After breaking months ago, Themed timers worked properly again until a couple of weeks ago. Now a Tea timer works properly with sound effects and music, but other timers are terribly broken. 

Instead of playing music for timers like Pasta or Bread, the timer plays silence. The visuals are correct on my Nest Hub 2nd Gen, but the song cuts out. So the effect is a timer that makes a slight chime for a second, then goes silent when a song should play, eventually making a slight chime for a second, then silence again, etc.

This is worse than having no themed song at all because at least then the chime would play continuously. This current bug means I can't label any of my food timers because the silence makes them useless.

[kappadappa]

Following up - themed timers appear to be working properly again.

[JayEm]

I'm not sure why I even bother coming to these community forums. In typical Google fashion, zero response from the actual Google company or Google developers. Their support blows.