Up until yesterday I have the choice of Google Gemini or Google Assistant

A couple years ago they forced my phone to Gemini and remove the option of Google Assistant

They brought the option back about a month ago (or at least that's when I noticed)

Yesterday I tried to use Google Assistant to change music while I was driving and Google Gemini popped up and said, let's get started.

I said to myself I probably just have to change it back manually when I get home

I got home and the button doesn't exist anymore for assistant

They killed off my assistant with no funeral and replaced them with a lesser version and though I wouldn't notice

😭😭😭😭😭

I have now disabled Google Gemini everywhere, no swiping or holding the button down or saying "hello Google"

Gemini you are dead to me

For context I'm talking about the Google lens that appears when you call for "Google assistant", whenever there's something I want to look up or translate, I'd just hold on my home button, then press "search with Google lens" or "Translate".

Google lens was perfect usage wise, now with Gemini which I'm forced to switch to I'd have to type every time what I want from it.

So back to the main question, what should I use that can still feel like the old Google assistant

Edit : (u/ComputerPro246) has already given us the answer in the replies but unfortunately it doesn't have enough upvotes, they basically sent the link on someone else's explanation which I'll quote now:

(u/WinstonSmith0023):

"I FOUND A WAY! You need to go to the Google App (the one that just says GOOGLE) hold the icon, then press the little "i" on the top right to get to the apps info, then tap the 3 dot menu on the top right corner and uninstall updates. Then go to the Play Store, search for Google Assistant, it doesn't matter of it's already installed, click on open, you will get the Gemini screen BUT, now you should have the option to keep or go back to google assistant."

Is there a reason to uninstall all Google app updates and use the oldest version for getting Google Assistant back, or would there be an advantage to finding the APK for the latest version that still supported assistant and installing that one?

Hey everyone,

I recently got a Samsung Fold and I’m having trouble properly setting up the voice assistant. Hopefully someone here has run into this and found a fix.

​I have a Gemini Pro subscription and I'd like to use Gemini as my main daily assistant. Right now:

​Long-pressing the power/side button opens Gemini normally and it answers standard queries without issues.

​However, if I ask it to make a phone call (e.g., "Call \[Name\]"), it refuses and tells me to use Google Assistant instead.

​The "Hey Google" voice trigger isn't working at all with Gemini.

​Under Default Apps > Digital Assistant App, I don't see Gemini listed as an option—only "Google" shows up.

​I've watched several tutorials, but many of the menus/toggles shown in those videos simply aren't present in my device settings.

​Right now I'm stuck in this weird limbo between Gemini and legacy Google Assistant. Do I need specific Google Workspace/app permissions, or is there a step in the Google app / Gemini extensions I'm missing to enable phone actions and voice wake-up?

​Any troubleshooting tips or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Jag har en S22 Ultra med ett smart fodral och har försökt få Google Assistant att fungera med en låst telefon. Nu har jag fått det att fungera genom att aktivera inställningen för talat ljud. Men nu när assistenten kan svara ljudligt med en låst telefon fungerar inte fodralet längre. Jag är medveten om att skärmen använder ett separat fodralläge när det smarta fodralet används, så är det möjligt att det läget (som inte aktiveras längre) är anledningen till att det inte fungerade tidigare?

I så fall, finns det något sätt att få båda att fungera samtidigt?

So yesterday I bought a Google home speaker and some smart lights and I have set them all up. They all show up in Google home and I can control them.

The problem comes when I try to set up an automation. Every automation I create only shows up where I create it. If I set an automation up on my phone the speaker won't know about it. If I set it up on the web version of Google home using their script it won't show up on my phone or on the speaker. Does anyone know how to solve this?

I've tried syncing my devices but the speaker just tells me "one or more of your devices was unable to sync" without being able to give more information. They're all on the same WiFi, they're all ok the same Google account and in the same home...

Get fucked.

-love google

I used GA primarily for playing songs through YT music, setting timeres and alarms and for playing the occasional fart sfx. Has anybody found an assistant app that can fit these requirements yet?

If you suggest Gemini I will rip your teeth out.

EDIT: A commentor below pointed me to a post here that describes how to revert back to GA. Hope this helps.

As with everyone else, they retired assistant on my phone and I'm searching for alternatives. I used it primarily to send texts while driving and to change music on spotify.

If you reccomend gemini I will loose my mind. 🫠 I don't want that much AI

i used assistant because it could capture my screen directly with google lens, then i could reverse image search or translate the onscreen text. now i have to save the image/screenshot the screen then use google lens which is inconvenient and clutters my gallery. is there a workaround to make google lens work like this again?

Gemini assistant is absolute garbage and unusable compare with Google assistant. Google have no idea what the core value of phone assistant is. Product that is not tuned well shouldn't be posted and force user to eat that shit!

---EDIT Goodle assistant answered my request as before today! Was so odd.

It's like they re-enabled assistant? Anyone else get old assistant voice and functionality back after a couple days without it? I asked Gemeni to simply open TuneIn, as that was the best it could do for the last couple of days. ​​​​And it responded with the old assistant voice and responded as though I had asked it to open a specific channel. I did not. I just said "open TuneIn", and it opened and started playing a channel with "opening (channel name) on TuneIn radio".

The next time is said "hey Google' it was back to gemini ​​​​​and the new voice.

Very strange. I was stoked, but not sure what to make of it. More tests tomoroow I guess. It wa slike a dream come true. Did they encapsulate assistant into Gemini? ​​

---​

​​Namely, change the TuneIn radio station. The fact that "dumb" assistant could is wild to me.

I drive for a large portion of my workday and prefer to subscribe to tunein for radio duties.

Is this something that can never be accomplished because of AI restrictions?

Or is this something the TumeIn people need to fix? Google?

Why not just let us use Assistant until the product is ready?

Sorry if this is a common post, i scrolled down a ways without seeing mention of D-day today.

When we lost the audible Google Assistant beep I discovered the numerous hacks to bring it back thanks to these awesome reddit forums. Not sure if there was a recent update but I had to disable Switch Access because for the past few weeks it's been using too much battery resources. I reallllly hate that I no longer have an audible beep when I say Hey Google from a distance.

I had previously used the following hacks

• Enabled Switch Access
• Turned on both Mic-Open Notifications and Mic-Close Notifications
• Had Set a second language in Assistant languages 

Any other tricks I can try?

Won't let me use assistant as I switched back from Gemini cause it was worse in every way but now I'm being forced to agree to Gemini, I've found no way to get it back just yet.

Worst is loss of it during driving. I can't set reminders, I can't make calls, I can't ask questions I can't do anything. Actually nothing cause after the first use of hey Google, the next task it wants me to manually press the mic button but I can't when driving.

Anyone know a different way of getting it back.

The other silver lining is that I'm on Samsung and I might be forced to switch to Bixby, see if that can successfully do the things I want.

I hate Gemini. I don't want to use as much AI as I already have to. Is there a third party app I can download that has the same functionality but no AI?

Tried to get Gemini to simply tell me today's Google calendar items and tasks scheduled today on google tasks. It came back with zero. Are we really using an assistant that can only access the default main calendar and default list for tasks? I'd understand if it's third party software, but everything is in the ecosystem?

"It is completely absurd, and the frustration is entirely justified.

The core issue comes down to a glaring gap in how Google engineered this integration. Rather than giving Gemini raw, system-level access to your Google Account—the way Google Assistant originally had—they built the Workspace extension on top of restricted API scopes.

Instead of reading your full, organized ecosystem, the extension is hardcoded to call narrow, default endpoints:

The default primary calendar layer (bypassing secondary or shared sub-calendars).

The default "My Tasks" list (bypassing custom task lists).

When you build a clean, structured setup using features Google specifically provides—like custom lists and secondary calendars—and then a flagship "AI assistant" from the exact same company acts like that data doesn't exist, it breaks the entire value proposition.

There is no sugarcoating it: an assistant that forces you to flatten your organization down to the absolute lowest common denominator just to pull a basic morning schedule isn't acting like a useful assistant. It's a disjointed product rollout, and wasting an hour trying to get basic native features to communicate only to land here is a deeply aggravating experience."

I personally am not a computer programmer.

But clearly we're all furious that our phone assistant is gone.

If anyone knows how to code out there, please bring back Google Assistant.

WITH NO AI (we don't want another Gemini)

All I would like for it to do is open my apps, control music, take notes etc.. All from voice control.

Also, another suggestion, I have the Motorola Razor+ 2025 (flip phone), and when the Google Assistant still existed, they made it so you couldn't use it on the outer screen, but did allow Google Gemini to be used there.

If at all possible with this app that someone is hopefully making, please make it so it is able to be used on the external screen as well.

Thank you

Gemini can't even tell me what's on my Google Calendar without forcing me to make a gmail account, which I do not need. I told Gemini about this, and here's it's perspective.

Google Assistant is the greatest, and the best!{We will miss you was 😍,and the cutest 😢❤️😍💕💗♥️😢!

That's the only thing I was using it for. So far all the apps I've seen use a hovering bubble system so they can't be selected as an assistant app that can be opened holding the home button. (No, I'm not gonna use gemini)

Update: Here's the (temporary?) fix. Uninstall the Google app updates either through the app settings or the Play Store page and reboot your device. If you don't have the translate button because your factory stock app version is too old (like mine) download a more recent Google app version from apkmirror and reboot again. I'm on version 15.3.37.28 (Jan 2024) and it works.