Gemini might receive an update that would allow it to interact with WhatsApp, Google Messages, and even manage Android notifications.
Google is on a determined mission to make Gemini an indispensable part of our daily routines. With deeper integrations into popular apps like Spotify and the Pixel 9 series shipping with Gemini as the default assistant, it’s clear that Google has ambitious plans for its AI model.
The tech giant has been strategically enhancing Gemini’s functionality with new extensions. After adding extensions for Google apps like Keep, Tasks, and Calendar, along with YouTube and YouTube Music, recent findings suggest even more exciting additions are on the horizon.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
In the Google app version 15.34.32.29.arm64 beta, we could enable the toggles for new Gemini extensions for WhatsApp, Google Messages, and Android system notifications. While they aren’t working just yet, their official descriptions provide a glimpse into what they might offer.
One of the things I initially liked about Pixels was that I could uninstall/disable a lot of the proprietary garbage that would be mandatory on other phones. But now it looks like Google is abandoning that flexibility in favour of shoehorning Gemini into everything.
My only interaction with Gemini so far was telling it to kick rocks when it sent me an unsolicited text message. I also barely use Assistant to begin with. So once my current phone dies, I guess I'll have to find something new.
Don't worry in a year or two they'll have a competing Ai assistant and break any functionality of Gemini and leave everything half baked on the new one
Well, one of the great things about Pixels is that you can install an alternative OS (I use GrapheneOS) that doesn't come with that crap anyway. I use GrapheneOS, and it has none of Google's crap. I made a separate profile for the handful of apps that require Google stuff (a couple work apps), and I only access it for less than a minute at a time, and those apps (Google Play Services) have no access to the device's storage that they don't strictly need (hooray storage scopes!).
The ironic thing is that I use Google's phone specifically to avoid Google.
I don't currently run /e/OS on mine - for now I've just disabled the Google app instead. But it's a solid option, and last time I used it my banking apps and everything worked with no problem.
Part of what I've hoped about Gemini is that Google would actually take advantage of its Cloud infrastructure and build Gemini in a way that makes it truly cross-platform compared to the Google Assistant with a consistent set of features across the web, the speaker, and anywhere else they choose to cram Gemini into.
Instead they choose to channel everything through WhatsApps Android app.
They control the OS that's storing your encryption key and decrypting your signal messages. You still have to trust one of the leaders in surveillance capitalism to not "accidentally" capture all the data they assure you they aren't capturing.
Seems like a cool idea but, so far with Gemini on my Pixel, I hate that I can't tell what's on device and what's in the cloud and I ended up uninstalling it. I'm not sure Google needs to know more about me than they already do.
Supposedly the phone can run local models but I've only seen it in the recorder app, which isn't really that useful, especially after all of the hype around Tensor, AICore and Gemini Nano.
Well, it's expensive technology to develop, and there's no other business model behind it than surveillance. So I think it's fair to expect the surveillance part of it to be difficult to neutralise.
I want to take all my phone calls. I very rarely get one. Maybe 1 time per 6 months on my private phone. I have meetings on teams but don't count them as it is remote working and only for work.
Besides, Google products just dies.
Can't they just code this like an assistant or something? Much more power efficient.
Well, knowing what gemini is about I fully expect the assistant to enforce using custom pronouns and "inclusive" language or else you will be cut off the service.
Yes, because they totally are enforing that hare-brained move on the other platforms they own, like on Youtube and sites returned in the search 🙄.
They don't give a singular shit about your politics, or about inclusivity. They care about money. They only care about avoiding bad PR if it gets bad enough to impact their money.
You all keep complaining about this shit, but the most I've seen any of these companies do is toss an incredibly lazy word filter up on posting stuff publicly, and on rare occasions taking manual action after enough reports or against celebrities.