Google has started killing Assistant on phones in favor of Gemini

Google started emailing users last month to warn them that it was killing off Google Assistant on phones in favor of Gemini. The company noted at the time that this process would start on September 4 and continue for a few weeks. Now, it looks like plenty of users are starting to lose Assistant on their Android phones.

9to5Google reports that they’re no longer seeing the “Switch to Google Assistant” option in the Gemini app’s account menu. I’m not seeing this option on my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, POCO F9 Ultra, or vivo X300 Pro after updating my Google app to the latest beta version on the Play Store (v17.62). Some Redditors also report that they’re no longer seeing the option to switch to Google Assistant.

This news isn’t a surprise, but it’s still the end of an era and a disappointing turn of events for many people. There’s no shortage of users who were happy with Google Assistant and thought it worked well for their needs. In fact, Redditors in the aforementioned threads noted that Assistant was more reliable for smart home controls, automation, and routines. Google Assistant also offered some offline commands, which are missing altogether in the Gemini app.

There are also plenty of people opposed to Gemini because it (and other generative AI models) still hallucinates and gets simple facts wrong. And that’s before we get into generative AI’s environmental concerns, copyright issues, and other factors.

It’s worth noting that this change only affects Google Assistant on mobile devices and accessories that pair to your phone (e.g., watches, Android Auto, earbuds). Google previously stated that smart speakers and smart displays still support Assistant.