'Ok Google, set a timer' now actually sets a timer

For as smart as Google Now is, it's often kind of... stupid. A great example of this was using it to set timers on your phone. Up until today, when you said "Ok Google, set a timer for 15 minutes" it would simply set an alarm for 15 minutes in the future. That wasn't all that useful, and it filled up your alarm list with a bunch of useless entries.

Now, with a server-side update to the Google Now service, asking your phone to set a timer will actually set a timer. Just like before you'll have a quick countdown after making the request to confirm the time, and you can even go more specific and add seconds to a timer. Once the timer is set, the clock app will launch and start counting down.

It's a pretty great feature, and one that should've worked right from the start, but we're glad everything's working as it should now.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.