Google plans to kill Assistant on your phone on September 4
Google Assistant's days have been numbered for a while, but the company has now settled on a date to retire its pre-AI assistant robot. In an email being sent out to users, Google confirms that Assistant on Android devices will be shut down starting on September 4, forcing everyone over to Gemini. Google told us it was coming, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. The initial plan was to retire Assistant in late 2025, but the service got a brief reprieve as Google shored up some aspects of Gem
Get smart on it
Google is ending support for its older Assistant voice control system on Android devices and will force users to switch to Gemini, a newer AI-based system. The shutdown begins on September 4 and will take several weeks to complete across phones, smartwatches, headphones, and cars with Android Auto. The transition matters because Gemini operates differently from Assistant: while the older system was limited but predictable, Gemini is a chatbot that calls tools to complete tasks and can sometimes forget available features or go off on tangents, potentially making simple voice commands more frustrating. Google had originally planned to retire Assistant in late 2025 but delayed the process until Gemini was ready to replace it.
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