Google Nest Hub adds morning checklist to help kids get ready for school

Last year, Google announced a then-new feature called Family Bell that enabled users to set up bell reminders. The idea was that parents could set up these reminders to announce when tasks needed to be done, such as reminding their child to get ready for an online class. The company is back with an update to the feature that ties in its Nest Hub smart display.READ: Google Nest Hub Max Review: The Assistant will see you now

In an announcement today, Google revealed that it will expand Family Bell so that it can also ring smartphones, making it more useful for everyone in the home. With this new capability will also come a useful feature for parents who have school-age children and a Nest Hub smart display.

Custom bells will be available to trigger a checklist that appears on the Nest Hub. One example of how this can be used was provided by Google: a morning checklist for kids to make sure they get ready for school properly. Each task marked off is accompanied by fun sounds and animations.

The checklist can be used for other things as well, of course, such as a pre-bedtime list of tasks or things to do after getting home from school. Google also has something for adults, as well, with the company saying in a blog post that another feature is inbound.

With this upcoming feature, users will be able to trigger a morning routine when they dismiss their alarm, such as playing the news, showing the weather, and similar tasks. This capability will be enabled by adding "Dismiss an alarm" as a Routine. Check out Google's announcement for other just-in-time-for-school features.