Key Takeaways
- Gemini Live is Google’s new lifelike voice assistant, available to Android users with a Gemini Advanced subscription.
- It’s accessible through the Gemini app and is usually faster than text chat.
- It doesn’t currently connect to other Google services, so it’s not as useful as we’d hoped, but Gemini Live brings Google one step closer to a true next-generation voice assistant.
Of all the things Google showed off at the official launch of the Pixel 9, the Gemini Live demo was by far the most impressive. Not only because it’s a dramatic improvement over the old days of calling and answering with the Google Assistant, but also because the company decided to start rolling it out to customers on the day of the event. There’s a good chance you’ll be able to get access to Google’s real-life Gemini Live right now.
The company initially teased the new voice mode at Google I/O 2024, with similar but less natural responses to the updated voice mode that OpenAI demoed earlier this year. For now, Gemini Live is conversation-only and doesn’t offer visual responses, nor can it access other Google services like Gmail or YouTube Music, like the regular Gemini. But it’s clear that Google thinks it can be a hit, and expects it to be something you can talk to from Pixel Buds and, in the future, new Nest speakers.
You’ll have to try it out to see if it’s useful, but the good news is that Google has made it relatively easy to start talking to Gemini Live right now. Here’s how to access Google’s new voice assistant on your smartphone.
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How to Talk to Gemini Live
Sign up for Gemini Advanced
Google’s Gemini Live feature is currently available in English and is only available to those with an Android phone, the Gemini app, and a Gemini Advanced subscription. Gemini Advanced uses Google’s more powerful features and is designed to have a larger context window so it can handle analyzing and manipulating large amounts of data (PDFs, images, text you drag into the chat window).
Currently, the only way to subscribe to Gemini Advanced is to sign up for the Google One AI Premium plan, which costs $19.99 per month, and comes with perks like 2TB of storage and access to Gemini and other premium features in Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
If you already have a Google account, you can sign up for the Google One AI Premium plan online or through the Google One app on your Android phone.
Access voice chat from the Gemini app
Once you’ve signed up, you’ll have access to Gemini Live within the Gemini app. Here’s how to use it:
- Download or Open the Gemini app.
- Tap the Gemini Live icon on the bottom right (Sparkling waveform) Start Gemini Live.
- To accept Google’s terms of service, Tap OK.
- Selecting an Audio Source Swipe through Gemini Live’s 10 options Let’s start chatting.
You can ask Gemini questions as you normally would, and you can interrupt responses by simply speaking or tapping the screen. Tapping the red “X” at the bottom will end Gemini Live chat and return you to Gemini text chat for what you just said. If you don’t want Gemini to respond, tapping the Hold button will turn off your microphone. Once you get used to interrupting Gemini’s wordy responses, Gemini Live is faster and easier than regular text chat.
Google is teasing its next-generation voice assistant
Need to connect to more apps
That’s not to say Gemini Live is perfect. The information provided is machine-generated, which is annoying, even if the conversations feel more natural. Gemini Live’s voice sounds different, but it lacks personality. And for now, it doesn’t make it any more useful than a more conventional text-based chat, especially since Google hasn’t added a way to access or control other apps or services from Gemini Live, unlike Gemini.
But in Google’s hands, it suddenly feels closer to the Siri or Google Assistant they originally imagined: a computer interface you can talk to and get things done. Whether Google ever gets there entirely or not, Gemini Live makes it feel like it’s possible.
If you want to use ChatGPT, the existing voice mode for AI is slow but quite similar to Gemini Live, and if you’re an iPhone user, Pocket-lint’s hands-on preview of Apple Intelligence gives some useful information on how Apple is currently working on AI.
FAQ
Q: Is Gemini Live available on iOS?
Yes. Gemini is currently accessible through the Google app on iOS. According to the Google blog announcing Gemini Live, “We’ll be rolling it out over the next few weeks.” [Gemini Live] It will expand to iOS and other languages as well.”
