Google's Gemini AI Now Available on iPhone: A New Era of Mobile AI Integration

Google’s Gemini AI Will Invade Your iPhone, If You Let It

In time for the iPhone 16 debut, Google updated its Search Widget on iPhone to allow users to customize shortcuts. You can include Google Lens or Incognito Mode, but you can also add Gemini. This takes you directly to the Gemini page on the Google app rather than needing to switch tabs like you did previously. The Gemini tab now appears directly next to Google search for iOS users on the Google app. You can also customize the widget to add other helpful apps like Song Search or Google Translate. Gemini on iPhone can’t do much other than offer natural language responses to your queries, translate text, or craft some off-putting AI images. You’ll also need to pay for Gemini Advanced for Google’s more advanced AI model and the ability to run Python code within the chatbot interface. It doesn’t sound like such a big change, but it does offer a small window into how our iPhones will look in a few months. Google’s easy-access Gemini is essentially equivalent to how Apple plans to integrate ChatGPT. The first few Apple Intelligence features of the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 users can expect will be AI-enabled writing tools and a few spare generative features like Image Playground. You could also access some Apple Intelligence features through the iOS 18.1 developer beta. Gizmodo has tried some of these features out, and they still feel like they’re in the early stages of development. The Magic Eraser-like pixel replacement tool called Clean Up can create some very wonky effects. Examples include people’s torsos ripped in half or other odd artifacts where objects used to be. The expanded Siri, which can interpret everything you do with your phone across apps, probably won’t arrive until 2025. As Apple describes it, Siri 2.0 sounds a lot like Gemini Live, though with the added benefit of a supposedly extra-private cloud server infrastructure. Google Pixel 9 devices already bear a striking resemblance to the iPhone, but there’s a clear divide between Apple and Google’s software suite. The Mountain View tech giant is promoting Gemini Live as its bread and butter. Google’s latest Pixel 9 devices are stuffed to the gills with the search giant’s AI, whether it's in your favorite work apps, Google Home, or the assistant called Gemini Live. It’s clear Google is ahead of Apple regarding AI integration, but the lingering question is whether any of this is worth using. I personally have no use case for AI-generated text. I find it insulting that Google thinks I need it to write something as simple as an email, let alone an article. While it’s workable for brainstorming sessions, I’m equally antagonistic to the idea that I'll use it to send wonky images to my friends. If I’m so devoid of memes I need to resort to AI, I know I’ve hit rock bottom in my obsessively online career.

Google Gemini widget now available on iPhone - launch Google's AI from your iOS Home Screen

The Google app on iPhone is one of the most used third-party applications on iOS and it just got a whole lot better, thanks to Gemini. With the launch of iOS 18, Google's Search widget has been given an overhaul, now offering customizable shortcuts. One of those shortcuts is Google Gemini, the company's impressive AI chatbot that previously was only available on iPhone by opening the Google app and switching tabs. Now, with the tap of a button, you can instantly launch into Gemini and ask it whatever you want from simple questions, like the size of London, to more complicated prompts like the meaning of life. Having the ability to launch Gemini directly from your iPhone's Home Screen is a huge upgrade to the previous Google Search widget and gives iPhone users the option to use Google AI similarly to Google Pixel owners. Google Gemini isn't the only new addition to the Google Search widget, 9to5Google reports that the full bottom row under Search can be modified to any of the following: Google has made it very easy to add the Gemini shortcut to your Google Search widget and it's incredibly responsive to use. Simply follow the steps below and you'll be using Gemini on your iPhone daily, seriously it's that good. Want to know more about Gemini's capabilities? Check out our Google Pixel 9 Pro Review. I've selected Gemini, Lens, and Song search for my Google widget and I can already see the benefit. Lens is Google's version of the upcoming Visual Intelligence in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, while Song search is an alternative to Shazam. Combined, all 3 shortcuts make the Google Search widget one of the best available on the iPhone right now.