TL;DR
  • Some Google Home devices stopped setting alarms via voice command for several days.
  • The bug hit both Google Assistant and Gemini for Home, affecting Nest speakers, displays, and even third-party devices like Lenovo smart displays.
  • Google has confirmed the fix, and our own testing shows alarms are setting and triggering correctly again.

Google Home has had a busy August, with Google rolling out several updates that make Gemini for Home smarter and add new capabilities to its smart home platform. But amid all those improvements, something as basic as setting an alarm suddenly stopped working for some users. Thankfully, Google has now confirmed that the issue affecting Nest and other Gemini-powered smart home devices has been fixed.

For several days, users on Reddit reported that commands such as “Hey Google, set an alarm for 8:30 AM” would simply be ignored. Some found that alarms worked when set for an exact hour, while others had to ask Google to set an alarm first and then provide the time when prompted. One odd workaround involved saying “Hey Google, hi” before giving the alarm command.