Google puts the finishing touches on Proactive Assistance ahead of Pixel 11 launch

Google’s Pixel 11 launch event will be upon us in just a few more days, and beyond the new hardware that’s set to debut, you can sure expect Google to be showing off its latest software developments. One that’s been on our radar for a while now has been Gemini Proactive Assistance, and recent discoveries have hinted that it could very well land as the next evolution of Magic Cue, possibly arriving with the Pixel 11. Ahead of next Wednesday’s launch, we’re taking a closer look at the latest developments there.

Like Magic Cue, Proactive Assistance appears to be a system for contextually surfacing useful information between apps. In addition to text strings detailing its operation, we’ve also taken a look at a handful of screenshots previewing how we’ll configure it through Gemini settings. And to those we can now add an early look at its onboarding screens:

None of this is particularly surprising, and really just serves to reinforce what we were already expecting from Proactive Assistance. Google intends to walk users through the functionality to expect from the tool, and advise them of all the privacy concerns with the info they share with it.

We uncovered these screens after installing version 17.47.17.sa.arm64 of the Google app for Android, but you won’t see them on your existing Pixel — right now these are only set to show up on Pixel 11 hardware. That doesn’t mean Proactive Assistance will never extend to older devices like the Pixel 10, but don’t expect it right out of the gate.

It also doesn’t seem like Proactive Assistance is set to outright replace Magic Cue, as looking at Google’s work on another new Pixel 11 feature, the AI-powered Conversation Capture voice notes, we continue to find explicit references to Magic Cue. We may have to wait for next week’s launch to get the full picture on how all these parts are set to fit together.