Google’s flagship AI assistant,Gemini, is now officially available as a standalone application in Apple’s App Store. The search giant’s home-grown AI technology first debuted on the iPhonewithin the Google app, but Apple users can now access the chatbot platform via this new purpose-built interface.
“iPhone users can now experience Gemini in a whole new way with our dedicated mobile app. In addition to using Gemini through the Google app on iOS or a web browser, iPhone users can enjoy a more streamlined Gemini experience, with easy access to features that help improve learning, creativity and productivity,“says Google in a blog post.
Google’s publishing of the Gemini app on iPhone comes months after its Android-based equivalent first hit the Google Play Store. Serving as the company’s next-generation AI platform, Gemini is set to eventually replaceGoogle Assistantentirely.
How Gemini Live works on your device
Here’s how to enable Gemini Live on your device and start a real-time conversation with AI.
At first glance, the iPhone version appears similar to its Android counterpart – the interface is dominated by a main chat window, which allows you to make search queries via voice, text, or images.
The app also provides access toGoogle’s Gemini Live service, which was previously only available on Android handsets. Gemini Live provides a more conversational and voice-based interactivity model for communicating with the AI assistant, and it was first launched alongside thePixel 9 seriesback in August.
According to Google, Gemini Live for iPhone is available in 10 languages, with more to come in the future. The current list of supported languages are: English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Turkish and Vietnamese.
Google Gemini
Gemini is Google’s premier AI assistant app for the Android operating system that can provide text responses to questions, generate and analyze images, and is now available on iOS.
Google pushes forward with Gemini
Google’s new AI supersedes the older Google Assistant app
Google has been working hard to bring its Gemini AI to the forefront of consumer tech. Over the past several months, we’ve seen the company aggressively market Gemini and integrate it deeper into the Android operating system. Google’s Pixel 9 series was first to market with the more advanced Gemini Live service, but it now appears that the feature is set for a broader roll-out across platforms and devices.
Over the past several months, we’ve seen the company aggressively market Gemini.
The older Google Assistant AI application is also still available for download on the Apple App Store and on the Google Play Store, and it’s unclear how long this will remain the case.Assistant still maintains a leg up on Geminiregarding certain on-device queries, such as opening applications or changing system settings. Of course, considering Apple’s stringent third-party app restrictions, most of these Assistant advantages are ultimately lost in translation on the iPhone.
On a personal note,I’ve been quite fond ofMicrosoft’sdedicated Copilot appfor iPhone, which recently received a major design overhaul. I find Google’s new Gemini app to look and feel somewhat clinical in comparison, though from an AI perspective, both apps offer a first-rate experience. With the upcomingChatGPT integration in iOS 18.2, as well as the growing collection of AI-focused experiences on the App Store, the iPhone is shaping up to be an AI powerhouse going into 2025.
Google says Assistant isn’t going anywhere… for now
Jen Fitzpatrick, the tech giant’s SVP of Core Systems and Experience, says Google Assistant will stick around even though Gemini is now the default.
