The way we use mobile apps could be entering a new stage. Until now, the Android experience has been based on something very simple: opening applications and performing step-by-step actions within them. However, Google is exploring a different model, in which artificial intelligence acts as an intermediate layer between what we ask for and what apps can do. In that scenario, we won’t always be the ones scrolling through menus or completing processes manually. In many cases, it will be enough to express what we want to do so that the system will try to solve it for us, coordinating different phone functions.
The next step in Android. In a post on the official blog for developers, the company presents new capabilities designed so that applications can work directly with assistants and AI systems. These functions are designed so that tools like Gemini can discover and execute certain actions within some apps. The project is still in an early phase, but it suggests a very specific direction: begin to reconfigure Android as an environment in which artificial intelligence can help complete tasks.
What do we understand by agent. In the field of AI, an agent is a system designed to go from response to action. While early digital assistants functioned as consultation tools, agents attempt to understand an intention and plan how to carry it out. To do so, they combine several capabilities: understanding natural language, evaluating the context and deciding what steps are necessary to fulfill a request. It is not just about generating text or suggestions, but about organizing a small chain of decisions oriented towards a specific objective.
If we follow the reasoning that Google presents in its publication, the change does not only affect AI, but also how applications are conceived within Android. For years, the main objective of any app was to get the user to open it and complete all the necessary actions within it. However, now that criterion is beginning to shift. In this new scenario, success begins to be measured less by getting us to open an app and more by its ability to help complete a task, even when the user does not directly interact with its entire interface.
One of the first pieces of change. The first path that Google proposes to move in this direction goes through something it calls AppFunctions. It is not a user-visible feature as such, but rather a set of tools with which developers can expose functions and data from their apps to intelligent assistants like Gemini. The example mentioned by the Android blog itself is quite illustrative: in the recently introduced Galaxy S26 series, Gemini can access Samsung Gallery functions to locate specific photos based on a natural language request, such as asking it to show images of a pet. In that case, the assistant interprets the request, activates the corresponding Samsung Gallery function and returns the result without requiring the user to manually navigate through the gallery.
The other way of Google. Along with direct integrations, the company is preparing a second formula to extend this model to more applications. As he explains, it is an interface automation system that will allow Gemini to take care of generic multi-step tasks without depending on a specific connection between the app and the assistant. Instead of relying on a function previously exposed by the application, the AI acts directly on the interface. Google notes that this initial preview will be tested on the Galaxy S26 series and some Pixel 10s, within the Gemini app and with a limited selection of delivery, grocery and transportation apps in the United States and Korea. The company also ensures that the user will be able to follow the process through notifications or a live view, resume manual control at any time and receive notifications before sensitive actions, such as a purchase.
Looking to the future. If Google’s announcement makes anything clear, it is that Android is beginning to prepare for a different stage. The functions presented are still in development and their deployment will be gradual, but they point to a specific direction: an operating system in which artificial intelligence plays an increasingly active role in the way we perform daily actions on mobile phones. Pixel and Samsung appear for now as the most visible references, although Google suggests that it wants to bring these capabilities to more manufacturers as the ecosystem evolves. As is often the case with these types of changes, the final result will depend on how the tools, integrations and the response of the users themselves evolve.
Images | Google
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