How to make use of Google Gemini in your cellphone

While Google Assistant goes to be round for some time, the way forward for Google-powered digital assistants now appears to be Gemini. Gemini comes preinstalled in the event you purchase a Google Pixel 9 cellphone, and you may set up the Android app on older Pixels and non-Pixel handsets. There’s additionally now an app for the iPhone. 

Whether you’ve already acquired it put in otherwise you’re eager about upgrading from Google Assistant, right here’s what you are able to do with Gemini. (This was examined on a Pixel 9 Pro Fold.)

You can seize the Gemini app at no cost for Android and iOS, signal your self in along with your Google account, and swap. As with Gemini on the net, the mannequin you possibly can entry will depend upon whether or not you’re prepared to pay Google $20 a month for Google One AI Premium, which incorporates Gemini Advanced — in different phrases, free customers get the smaller Gemini 1.5 Flash mannequin, whereas paying customers get Gemini 1.5 Pro.

We’ve beforehand written concerning the variations between the fashions, however the Pro mannequin primarily provides smarter solutions throughout a broader vary of subjects. (It’s just like the free versus paid ChatGPT mannequin.)

The Gemini interface is an easy one: you enter your query or remark on the backside of the display, and the reply seems on the high. There are 4 methods you possibly can work together with Gemini: by typing into the textual content field; utilizing the mic icon to verbalize your request; utilizing the digital camera icon to question a picture (the digital camera icon); or utilizing the sound wave icon to discuss to Gemini Live.

And sure, there are two methods of speaking to Gemini: the unique sort of voice enter (which works equally to Google Assistant) and the newer Gemini Live. Gemini Live presents a extra pure expertise. You can interrupt it and use filler phrases, and the response is much less robotic, too, extra like a traditional dialog.

Given that the usual voice enter and Gemini Live use the identical underlying AI mannequin and each can be found to free and paying customers, it’s not clear why anybody would nonetheless wish to follow the previous choice — nevertheless it’s there in the event you want it. (Maybe you’ll discover Gemini Live a bit too chatty, as some do.)

By the best way, your earlier chats are accessible through a speech bubble icon within the top-left nook of the display, assuming it’s enabled. (If it isn’t, the icon will lead you to the suitable display.)

The prompts Gemini can reply to are just like these you should utilize with different AI bots, like Copilot or ChatGPT. Things like:

• “Give me some birthday theme concepts for a 5-year-old.”
• “Draft the textual content of an electronic mail telling my boss I need a promotion.”
• “Which sci-fi podcasts ought to I be listening to?”
• “Write a poem concerning the iPhone 16.”

At the top of every response, there shall be icons you should utilize: thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons to charge the reply; a share icon to ship it to a contact; or a duplicate icon to ship it to your cellphone’s clipboard. A Google icon prompts an analysis of the outcomes. Tap the three dots, and you may ship the response to Google Docs or Gmail or modify the response (make it shorter or extra informal in tone, for instance).

You can even get Gemini to generate pictures through Google’s Imagen 3 engine, no matter whether or not you pay for Gemini Advanced. There is one caveat, although: you possibly can’t generate pictures of individuals until you’re a subscriber, a minimum of for now.

Tap the digital camera icon, and you may take a photograph so as to add to your immediate. This provides you much more scope in terms of prompts:

• “What sort of flower is that this?”
• “What can I make with these substances?”
• “How do I repair this?”
• “Where is that this place?”
• “If I like this TV present, what else will I like?”

To add a picture out of your gallery as an alternative, faucet the + (plus) icon to the left of the textual content enter field. (If you don’t see the plus icon, faucet the digital camera icon as an alternative.) If you’re a Gemini Advanced subscriber, you possibly can add different sorts of recordsdata as nicely: Gemini can summarize PDFs, for instance, or rewrite textual content in a letter.

The normal generative AI guidelines apply right here: it’s possible you’ll get inaccuracies, so make sure to double-check the whole lot necessary, and don’t depend on Gemini to present you dependable medical or authorized recommendation.

Over time, Gemini is steadily gaining extra capabilities throughout the online and cellular apps, and Google is taking the method of releasing these upgrades as particular person extensions. At the beginning of November, for instance, we acquired one for Google Home.

Step by step, these extensions are giving Gemini’s cellular app the identical performance as Google Assistant — reminiscent of with the ability to set a timer or management your good lights — on high of all of the generative AI expertise we’ve talked about above.

Tap your Google account icon (high proper), then select Extensions to see what’s accessible (and to disable any extensions if, say, you don’t need Gemini snooping via your Gmail or Google Docs). 

• “What’s on my schedule for this weekend?” (Google Calendar)
• “Tell me concerning the emails I acquired right this moment.” (Gmail)
• “Play some R.E.M. tunes.” (YouTube Music)
• “How lengthy will it take me to drive to Los Angeles?” (Google Maps)
• “Set an alarm for 7AM tomorrow.” (Utilities)

If Gemini doesn’t choose the appropriate extension by default, you possibly can inform it the way you need a immediate dealt with by utilizing “@,” adopted by the identify of the extension. So, for instance, you possibly can sort “@Google Calendar” adopted by “When is my subsequent assembly?” (This is definitely an excellent various methodology to examine which extensions you’ve acquired accessible, as they’ll be listed as you sort.)

It’s price taking into account that Gemini continues to be a piece in progress. It doesn’t but help a number of music streaming companies like Google Assistant does, and its good house controls, timer, and alarm capabilities are at the moment restricted to Android. In addition, Gemini can’t but kick off routines (like beginning a playlist and turning in your good thermostat) from a single voice command, which is one thing Google Assistant can do. And in fact, past the online and the cellular apps, it’s not related to as many gadgets.

If you’ve closely invested in Google Assistant, particularly by way of third-party integrations and its extra superior performance, you’re nonetheless higher off sticking with the older AI in the meanwhile.

You can swap again to Google Assistant in your cellphone if you’d like. From Settings in Android:

• Tap Apps > Assistant > Digital assistants from Google.
• Choose between Gemini and Google Assistant.

That stated, Gemini is undoubtedly the place Google shall be investing its effort and time sooner or later. Let’s hope it does a radical job of transferring all the present Google Assistant performance over to its new AI assistant of alternative.