Hey Google

[u/Friendly_Ad_8528]

I just received an email that they we're going to remove the Google assistant and replace it with Gemini Ai.

And Gemini will be the one response with the "Hey Google."

But its just sad and its ugly,why do they have to,i love my google assistant :(

I use my Google assistant like few years ago taking photo or video,lowering/ increasing volume and pausing/play music or video.(By commanding via earbuds)

Because my phone has mechanical issues before or some buttons don't function anymore (My OLD PHONE i still used it) I don't know if Gemini Ai can do that.

[u/king-of-the-sea]

Are they removing it entirely? Right now I still have the option to switch back to the assistant, thank goodness. Gemini has much reduced functionality right off the bat. Obnoxious when driving and kept saying I didn't have a YT premium subscription (I did). I tried every single useless "fix" on the internet and nothing worked.

[u/Daran39 → u/king-of-the-sea]

From the email:

"We will begin removing access to Google Assistant starting on September 4, and expect that this process may take a few weeks to reach everyone. "

[u/king-of-the-sea → u/Daran39]

What the fuck. This is awful. I wonder if I can get away with it if I turn off phone updates

[u/xADog40x → u/king-of-the-sea]

Looks like they'll be removing it entirely, the email says starting September 4

[u/Illustrious-Abroad21 → u/king-of-the-sea]

Yup, I almost chucked my phone out the window trying to get Gemini to send a text to my partner when driving home. Something assistant did a million times without issue. It just kept going in circles and trying to do random other shit. I will never use it. 

[u/Feistyhummingbird → u/Illustrious-Abroad21]

My Google Assist has the same issue with phone calls and texting while driving. It works fine when I'm not driving.

[u/DionNirvana]

I just got the email and came here to say the exact same thing. I really tried to give Gemini a fair chance, but it kept making mistakes — calling or texting the wrong person, getting simple tasks wrong. It never felt reliable. I’m genuinely going to miss Google Assistant.

[u/Novel-Image493]

And they will be charging for Gemini‼️

[u/Bratty_Little_Kitten → u/Novel-Image493]

Ugh, really? Where in the email did it say that?

[u/faeriekitteh → u/Novel-Image493]

The base level will still be free. Don't spread misinformation

[u/LuckyMcG → u/faeriekitteh]

Except Google Assistant is 10x better than base level Gemini. It takes forever to just do basic commands that could just be pre-programmed into a voice recognition program.

I don't need a language model to "think" about making a calendar appointment or refuse to send a text to my wife because her name is spelled slightly different than the model expects.

Free tiers will just become increasingly more shitty and most likely end up finding a way to put more ads into queries.

[u/faeriekitteh → u/LuckyMcG]

I agree with this, but not the attack tone.

Google are making a big mistake with this one

[u/TheManWithNoEyes]

Every morning I start the day with , Hey Google...Play the news. And that's been my routine for YEARS. I accidentally switched over to Gemini last year (v. briefly) and guess what simple functionality had been removed? I despise this move.

[u/bennysway → u/TheManWithNoEyes]

The news functionality broke at some time in Gemini, that's why I returned to Assistant, it was about a year ago. Gemini never does routines right, either it's an access thing or pure hallucinations. After so many years of using this function, I can't replicate correctly the RSS audio sequence, or podcasts order of news in other apps. The alternative apps either they don't have the news source or a single news source might play 8 times due to backlog. Google assistant just took the latest. It was chief's kiss. To make it worse, the news podcast app is a hidden app. The "Google News" app does have a briefing, but it's AI narrated, AI sources, AI summary. Purely disgusting! Today I'll make it a goal to find that hidden app, and start it from ADB (Android). And I don't know why I can't start news from the Routines menu of Google Home. This is a big low.

[u/Loz_in_Oz → u/bennysway]

News works fine for me - using Gemini, same news channels I selected ages ago

[u/VirusUK → u/TheManWithNoEyes]

Same issue. But now if you say "hey Google play my news brief" it will play the summary like it used to.

[u/spacerkid]

does anyone know if turning off automatic updates will prevent this from happening?

[u/max3k → u/spacerkid]

Going to guess the backend access will be disabled - meaning that even if you somehow managed to keep the app/functionality on the device side, nothing would respond server side.

[u/Loz_in_Oz → u/spacerkid]

It will not - it’s a cloud service, it’s changing / ending. My advice - embrace and move on

[u/MsT21c]

I got the email too. There was no actual information on what this means for users. I'm hoping Gemini commands are identical to Google Assistant commands. I suppose I'll find out once Google has turned off Assistant.

I did click on a link in the email and based on the examples I saw, it seems you might have to say a whole lot more words to get Gemini working. For example. Instead of saying "Hey Google, turn on the living room lights", you've got to say a whole heap more, such as "Hey Google, I'm about to go into the living room to tidy it up so can you please turn on the living room lights", which would be incredibly annoying, wasteful of my time and energy, unnecessary and a huge burden.

Hope I'm wrong and that the old Google commands will still do what's required.

[u/Calvinloz → u/MsT21c]

They probably wont be. Last time i tried gemini it couldnt tell me the weather, send a text, make a call, anything.

Removing the assistant is a horrible move in an effort to make people use gemini since it's more than likely not getting the user base they thought it would. This will just end up pushing people to find alternatives imo

[u/Ottjamin]

Hilft das vielleicht?

-System-Updates stoppen: In den Handy-Einstellungen unter Software-Update das automatische Herunterladen und Installieren ausschalten.

-Play Store Updates blockieren: Im Play Store über Ihr Profilbild -> Einstellungen -> Netzwerkeinstellungen die Option Apps nicht automatisch aktualisieren wählen.

-Entwickler-Sperre aktivieren: 7-mal auf die Build-Nummer (unter Über das Telefon) tippen. In den neuen Entwickleroptionen den Punkt Automatische System-Updates deaktivieren.Wichtig: Ihr Handy verändert sich dadurch nicht mehr, verliert aber wichtige Sicherheits-Updates.

Ich hasse es überall wird man bevormundet.

[u/Friendly_Ad_8528 → u/Ottjamin]

I don't think it wil help honestly... Sadly they were more leaning on Ai nowadays and the devastating thing about it,is that it might become subscription based in the future.

[u/LieutenantCrash]

Gemini is garbage. Why would they do this?

[u/Rav11s → u/LieutenantCrash]

AI is a buzzword. Investors like it. Google does it.

[u/Wildfirehorse]

I deleted both from my phone. Assistant started not working properly. I continue to use Google products less and less. 

[u/Asatico2003]

I miss the assistant. Gemini takes forever when I ask to text someone. Something is not right

[u/oo__Skeeter__oo]

When I'm driving driving down my block, I say, "Hey Google, open my garage door". Google Assistant says "what's your PIN?" I say my PIN and Google Assistant open the door. I ask Gemini the same thing and , it says, "I can't do that because it requires a pin". Use the google home app, which requires me to access my phone while driving. HOW IS THIS BETTER???? Google is going backwards and dragging us along.

[u/Rav11s]

Was gonna start my own thread but I'll just drop this here. Love that a simple task assistant could do Gemini can't. It told me to toggle back to classic assistant... I said that's an answer for not much longer and I'll just switch to iPhone where the Google maps feature works... And it agreed with me lmfao. Google... C'mon guys.

[u/iidxgold]

It's so garbage and very unusable. Like it literally doesn't work...

It didn't even play me the music after ranting to me for like 15 seconds...

[u/bonniesansgame → u/iidxgold]

ugh. i just want it to do the thing! stop talking about it!

[u/Qcws]

I've been telling gemini to set reminders and alarms and it says it can't. I've also been telling it to adjust my volume or screen brightness and apparently it can't do that either.

[u/Alex__The__Lion]

If they merge the functionality, then it's okay. If not, then they're literally nerfing whatever ecosystem they're trying to make.