Android users have less than a month to use one of Google's most popular apps before it's replaced
It looks like millions of phones will be saying goodbye to a particular popular app in the coming weeks as Google makes a major switch.
The tech giant will be getting rid of the Google Assistant from Android devices next month, despite the fact that it’s one of the firm’s most popular apps.
Fans can expect the feature to disappear from devices from September 4, which means users will need to download Google’s new Gemini in order to keep using the functions.
Google refers to the move as an ‘AI upgrade’, describing on its website: “Gemini is better at understanding how to help with everyday tasks, but it’s also better at free-flowing chats or brainstorms. When you want to have an even more free-flowing conversation, you can say, ‘Hey Google, let’s chat’, to talk to Gemini Live.
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“Now the hotword is gone: You can talk, you can pause, you can interrupt, you can pivot, you can follow up - just like you would with a person.”
In an email sent out to users to inform them about the update, Google stated: “We are committed to providing a smooth transition and are confident that Gemini will offer you an even more capable and helpful assistant experience.”
The AI upgrade was initially announced last year by Google’s senior director of product management for the Gemini app Brian Marquardt.
He explained: “We believe an assistant should be personal to you, and aware of the world around you. It should be able to interact with the apps and services you already use. And it should make you more productive, more creative and a bit more curious.
“When we launched Google Assistant in 2016, natural language processing and voice recognition technology unlocked a more natural way to get help from Google. Nearly a decade later, we’re in the midst of another platform shift — this time, generative AI is transforming the way we interact with technology.
“To continue our work of building the world’s most helpful assistant, we’ve reimagined the experience with AI at its core to make Gemini your personal, AI-powered assistant. While our expectations for what an assistant can do are rapidly changing, the mission remains the same.”
For anyone unsure about the change, Marquardt has stated that Gemini’s capabilities ‘go far beyond the Google Assistant’, adding that the new assistant can ‘provide an entirely new kind of help’.
He added: “Features like Gemini Live for free-flowing, multimodal conversations and Deep Research, which transforms Gemini into a personal research assistant, are only possible with AI — and we’re just getting started.”