Google Gemini AI now has its own iPhone app

In the world of AI chatbots, ubiquity is everything. Companies are racing to create desktop and mobile apps for their bots to both give them recent capabilities and make sure they’re right in front of your face as often as possible.

There is no better example than Google new Gemini app for iPhonewhich quietly hit the App Store around the world this week. The free app is uncomplicated and pristine: it’s just a chat window and a list of previous chats. You can ask the bot a question via text, voice or camera and it will answer you. It’s virtually identical to the Gemini section of the Google app, or what you get by opening your browser and going to the Gemini website.

The Gemini app has one recent feature: access to Gemini Live, a more interactive and conversational bot chat mode, similar to ChatGPT’s voice mode. Gemini Live has been available on Android for several weeks, but this is the first time that iPhone owners can exploit it. In my brief tests so far, it’s working really well, and when you exploit Live, it shows up both on Animated Island on the iPhone and on the lock screen.

But eventually Live will be available everywhere. Whenever the next version of Gemini comes out, this will be it. The purpose of the Gemini app is to place an icon on your home screen and allow you to assign an action button or one of the other quick access locations on your phone. With one tap and half a second you can talk to the bot. This access, and the muscle memory it helps build, is crucial for any company that wants users to become accustomed to talking to bots.

Like all other non-Siri chatbots, Gemini has some major limitations on the phone. He cannot change settings or access other applications. But this Power access to other Google applications, which is still a substantial advantage of Gemini. You can ask Gemini to play music and YouTube Music will launch. You can ask it for directions and it will send you to Google Maps. This is a compact taste of what Gemini hopes to exploit on Android and what Apple is trying to do with Siri: exploit artificial intelligence to make everything on your phone more interactive and accessible. But none of this matters if people don’t exploit bots – which is why the race for the home screen continues.