This means:

  • Downloading or updating the Assistant app now gives you Gemini instead.
  • You can switch back to Assistant in the Gemini app settings.
  • This might be Google's first step towards replacing Assistant completely with Gemini.
  • Some users are unaware of the switch and see two Gemini apps on their phones.

Overall, this may suggest Google is phasing out Assistant and transitioning users to the newer Gemini AI technology.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[+] 89 points 2 years ago (3 children)
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 78 points 2 years ago (5 children)
    1. Open developer options on the phone and turn ADB to ON.
    2. Connect the PC to the phone with a cable.
    3. Open terminal.
    4. Run "adb uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.apps.googleassistant".
    5. Enjoy your private life.
  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 75 points 2 years ago (45 children)

    Do people use Assistant for more than just reminders, weather, and directions? Lol Just curious because that's all I use it for.

  • source
  • hideshow 45 child comments
  • [–] 69 points 2 years ago (15 children)

    "set a timer for X minutes" And "set an alarm for X AM" are super helpful

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 15 child comments
  • [–] 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)

    I've tried one extra layer of complexity - "Remind me to water the plants when I get home" or something like that. It has no idea what I'm asking it to do despite knowing the "remind me" phrase and knowing where my home is.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    It used to work years ago. It's not a technology problem. They changed their policy around location based reminders. One of the reasons I'm degoogling. I got rid of apple products too when they got rid of Google maps in favour of apple maps. Forcing a poorer product on users shows contempt for users.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • load more comments (6 replies)
  • [–] 25 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Simple timers, controlling the lights, background music, reminders, and occasionally thing like "how many tablespoons in a pint".

    I don't ask it for the weather because I don't want a 30 second lecture on the weather, and it won't give me "cold now, hot later, might rain between".

    Given that Gemini seem to be unable to give short answers, and it can't control stuff, it's missing most of what I require.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    Odd I seem to be able to control all my IOT devices no problem so far from Gemini with voice commands over the phone. This includes all smart switches, lights, thermostats, and so on in my house

    It seems to function a little quicker in response with the voice commands IMO.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Oh interesting. I'll have to check it out again. When I first tried it I asked it to turn off the lights and it said it couldn't interact with the outside world, a d some searching said they hadn't implemented that yet, so away it went.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (2 replies)
  • load more comments (2 replies)
  • load more comments (18 replies)
    [–] 43 points 2 years ago (17 children)

    yay, more nonsense added to stock android (degoogle now)

  • source
  • hideshow 17 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I need a degoogle wiki to all me through all the things I can do to degoogle and what conveniences I might loose and potential workarounds for them. E.g. I spent a few hours getting rid of chrome, but then found out that if I want to use maps from my home screen, I can't use the search bar and I need another button on my homescreen. Also, apparently I use the images tab on Google often, and ddg doesn't have an images filter.

    So anyway, without good replacements for my typical workflow, I end up just adding inconvenience and still falling back on the old workflows when I can't figure out how to get what I need degoogled.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • [–] 34 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    I knew they were going to end up going full gemini, but this seems too soon to pull such shenanigans, considering it's still slow to respond, can't do several things that assistantcan do, and is 100% useless when not on data.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [+] 24 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago

    And it still won't be as useful as Google Now

  • source
  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago (14 children)

    Is this gonna be one of those tech bandwagon things that Google fails at so consistently? You know, like Google phones, Google Plus, Google Pay, Google Stadia, Google Your Poodle, etc.

  • source
  • hideshow 14 child comments
  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago

    Google phones are some of the most popular in the marketplace (and their os is the most popular in the world) and Google pay works absolutely fine - I use it everyday, albeit with the new name of wallet.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Your device is not your device. Google's device, google's rules!

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 15 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    Make yourself a favor, delete this crap and instead use a real open source (means apache2) AI that performs even better than chatgpt4 or Google ai. Get Mistral 7B.

  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    It's default? When I downloaded it, I had to manually choose Gemini to be the default. It wasn't set like that for me.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • load more comments (5 replies)
    [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    Haha, Google. I already type my dumb questions at DuckDuckGo

    Srsly... Gemini is pretty cool tho. When I want an AI at least. (Rarely)

  • source
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I'm confused. There is no assistant app as far as I can tell. It seems to just be part of the OS.

    I don't see a Gemini app either though.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    What if I don't use Assistant? Does it still have access to other parts of my phone?

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] [S] 9 points 2 years ago

    It looks like you can switch the assistant to the old one, and then turn that one off.

    But just like Microsoft, Google is going to use this technology everywhere. If in the future (or now, if it is already available to you), you use features to describe images, summarize data, create texts, you probably will be using some form of Gemini.

  • source
  • parent
  • [+] 6 points 2 years ago
    [–] 6 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    it's not as if the default assistant was actually good. can't make it any worse, at least

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    load more comments
    view more: next ›