Google missed its own self-imposed deadline to move the majority of Android devices from its Assistant platform over to its modern AI Gemini.
In March, Google said it would upgrade more users throughout the year with plans to retire Assistant on “most mobile devices” by the end of 2025. That plan is for devices running Android 10 or later with 2GB of RAM or more, which is most modern Android phones and tablets.
A Gemini community manager shared an update on the brand’s forums last week saying Google would be changing its timeline. The brand said, “We’re adjusting our previously announced timeline to make sure we deliver a seamless transition, and will continue our work to upgrade Assistant users to Gemini on mobile devices into 2026.”
You can still download the Assistant app from both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, although the software hasn’t received any updates since a bug fix on July 23. Eventually, Google plans to make that app incompatible with modern devices to encourage users to switch to Gemini.
Google’s most recent update says it will share more details “in the coming months,” suggesting it may be a while into next year before it enacts its plans.
Assistant is integral to many other devices outside of Android, such as Google’s smart home Nest products. The brand is rolling out early access to a replacement platform called Gemini for Home that users can opt in to use.
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Late last week, Google began rolling out access to Gemini for Home’s beta to those in Canada. It’s launching in English first with plans for French language support to land early next year.
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Google’s AI chatbot has gone from strength to strength in 2025 with the Gemini 3 update and Nano Banana Pro image-generation tool impressing many. The improvements reportedly saw OpenAI call a “code red” to make improvements to its ChatGPT system.
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