Google Now reminders not working

[David North]

I can't get reminders to either give me an alert sound, or appear in my notifications.

Notifications are enabled in Google Now settings, sound is turned on. I confirmed that the notification was added, the card shows in the list and has the correct time, but except for one attempt it never makes a sound or adds anything to my notifications. The same goes for alarms added via Google Now.

I have this same problem on Nexus 7 (latest Android) and HTC One (4.1), both with latest version of Google Now.

This is a very important function to me for a smart phone, I don't want to deal with a fiddly UI for this sort of thing when Google's voice recognition works so well. For something so basic to not work is very frustrating, considering how well I know this works on iPhone with Siri.

This has been reported elsewhere but without any helpful responses. It seems to be a bug in Google Now but I don't know if that has been confirmed or is likely to be fixed any time soon.

Are other people having the same problem?

 

[gone down south]

Reminders don't give alerts, they just slow up in the Now cards.

However, Lightflow fixes that problem nicely.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Golfdriver97]

I can't get reminders to either give me an alert sound, or appear in my notifications.

Notifications are enabled in Google Now settings, sound is turned on. I confirmed that the notification was added, the card shows in the list and has the correct time, but except for one attempt it never makes a sound or adds anything to my notifications. The same goes for alarms added via Google Now.

I have this same problem on Nexus 7 (latest Android) and HTC One (4.1), both with latest version of Google Now.

This is a very important function to me for a smart phone, I don't want to deal with a fiddly UI for this sort of thing when Google's voice recognition works so well. For something so basic to not work is very frustrating, considering how well I know this works on iPhone with Siri.

This has been reported elsewhere but without any helpful responses. It seems to be a bug in Google Now but I don't know if that has been confirmed or is likely to be fixed any time soon.

Are other people having the same problem?

Welcome to the forums!
Have you tried clearing the cache in Settings>Apps>Google Search? There may be a problem there that clearing might help. I am currently testing mine, I haven't needed to use the reminder feature for a few days, so I am uncertain.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Update: Reminder just went off. So mine is working.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Reminders don't give alerts, they just slow up in the Now cards.

However, Lightflow fixes that problem nicely.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

Mine gives me an alert by default notification and in the status bar.

 

[David North]

@gone down south I'm pretty sure you're mistaken about that, elsewhere I've seen discussions about how to change the sound for reminder alerts.
And surely alarms would have a sound alert otherwise they wouldn't be much use.

 

[David North]

Welcome to the forums!
Have you tried clearing the cache in Settings>Apps>Google Search? There may be a problem there that clearing might help. I am currently testing mine, I haven't needed to use the reminder feature for a few days, so I am uncertain.

No luck with that I'm afraid.

 

[Golfdriver97]

No luck with that I'm afraid.

Bummer. Any way you might be able to uninstall and reinstall?

Sent from a Slim 4.3 S3

 

[David North]

I think I found an explanation. I was testing this feature by setting reminders and alarms only a few minutes from now, I don't think it thinks its worth giving you an alert if its so close to the time. Seems to make some sense but its confusing behaviour. I set one for a half hour in the future and it worked as expected with system default notification sound. I set another one for later to make sure.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I think I found an explanation. I was testing this feature by setting reminders and alarms only a few minutes from now, I don't think it thinks its worth giving you an alert if its so close to the time. Seems to make some sense but its confusing behaviour. I set one for a half hour in the future and it worked as expected with system default notification sound. I set another one for later to make sure.

I kinda stumbled on the few minutes, but I still had Now open when it went off. My 5 minute timer worked fine.
Glad you found a fix.

Sent from a Slim 4.3 S3

 

[huddie]

I think I found an explanation. I was testing this feature by setting reminders and alarms only a few minutes from now, I don't think it thinks its worth giving you an alert if its so close to the time. Seems to make some sense but its confusing behaviour. I set one for a half hour in the future and it worked as expected with system default notification sound. I set another one for later to make sure.

I think you're right. My test reminders at current time + 1min weren't showing alerts, but a +20min one did. Stupid error on the part of developers as this is how many people test alerts.

--
huddie

"If you aren't seeking help or offering it, you probably shouldn't be here."

 

[Clint Pachl]

I'm experiencing similar behavior on my Nexus 5 running Android 4.4.2 on March 6, 2014. I can't believe this is still an issue. The phone and Google Now are new to me so I thought I'd test the reminder system to see what to expect. No status or sound notifications with 1, 2, or 5 minute reminders; only Now cards. Then I set one for 20 minutes and it worked. I tried again with a 2 minute reminder, but this time it worked. This inconsistent behavior has me worried that I won't get my reminders.

I wonder if this behavior is documented somewhere?

 

[Michael Landau]

I am having the same problem - it is pretty annoying because I like to set reminders for myself to do things even within a few minutes. The reminders showsup in the Google Now cards, but that doesn't help me if I'm not using the phone.

 

[DaHui623]

Welcome to the forums!
Have you tried clearing the cache in Settings>Apps>Google Search? There may be a problem there that clearing might help. I am currently testing mine, I haven't needed to use the reminder feature for a few days, so I am uncertain.

I was having the same problem , then while going to clear the cache for the second time I noticed an empty checkbox in this location for allowing notifications. Totally fixed now.


Sent from my HTC One using AC Forums mobile app

 

[mike wooten1]

My Google Now reminders always used to give me a notification pop up, as well as appearing as a card. Now it's not working, but it used to.

 

[mike wooten1]

Reminders don't give alerts, they just slow up in the Now cards.

However, Lightflow fixes that problem nicely.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

My Google Now reminders always used to give me a notification pop up, as well as appearing as a card. Now it's not working, but it used to.

 

[DeniZen_69]

'You're 100% wrong. What would be the purpose of a "notification" that did not notify? jeez.

 

[DeniZen_69]

The only peeve worse than people who give wrong information on help blogs are people that say: "yeah, same problem", or: "i don't know the answer".

 

[csricharan]

Maybe it's too late to reply but I found a solution to this reminder problem which has been plaguing me ever since I switched to an Android phone. None of my reminders used to go off or ring or appear on my screen like they used to on my iPhone 4. Anyway, I got the solution when I downloaded BZ REMINDERS. Apparently, you have to go to 'battery manager' and make the 'reminders app' a protected app. Then you will get notifications and it will ring etc. This app is a very good app and even offers the solution right on top and asks if the reminder is not working on your phone. And lists individual actions for different phone makers.