Late last week, we learned that Google Assistant is on borrowed time and will soon get replaced by Gemini on Android phones. And while Google said it’ll continue to invest in and improve Assistant, we recently learned that it’ll slowly start losing several key features.

Yes, your Google Assistant is about to get worse, and this isn’t the first time. Google retired nearly 20 different Assistant features across Android, smart speakers, and smart displays early last year. However, many of those were features users didn’t take advantage of all that often. In this latest round, however, you might lose a few you’re still using.

Google will officially retire Assistant sometime in the coming months and replace it with Gemini. The company has spent the last year adding features, introducing new models, and trying to improve the AI-powered assistant to the point that it would be a viable alternative to Assistant. We first started seeing it replace Assistant in February 2024, but that was optional. However, over the course of the past year, Google has aggressively pushed it toward users, and that goal is about to get kicked into high gear.

As many Android owners probably know, the Assistant is slowly getting harder to find and use. Invoking Google Assistant on devices requires a new swipe method found in Settings. And now, it looks like the Assistant on Android phones and Nest devices is going to lose seven more features.

When Google announced Gemini’s taking over last week, it quietly included a note that Assistant features are being downgraded and removed. A newly updated support page confirms that Google will continue to improve Google Assistant and is “prioritizing the experiences you love and investing in the underlying technology to make them even better—which means that some underutilized features will no longer be supported.”

Spotted by 9to5Google, here’s a list of the features being ripped away from our devices:

• Favorite, share, and ask where and when your photos were taken with your voice—You can still favorite and share your photos in the Google Photos app and see where and when your photos were taken on your Smart Display and tablet.
• Change photo frame settings or ambient screen settings with your voice—You can still change your photo frame settings in your Smart Display settings.
• Translate your live conversation with someone who doesn’t speak your language with interpreter mode. Translating a single word or phrase from one language to another will still work.
• Get birthday reminder notifications as part of Routines—You can still ask your Assistant to set a reminder about birthdays you care about.
• Ask to schedule or hear previously scheduled Family Bell announcements.
• Get daily updates from your Assistant, like “send me the weather everyday.” Instead, you can schedule updates when you create a custom Routine.
• Use Google Assistant on car accessories that have a Bluetooth connection or AUX plug.

While these aren’t hugely popular features that millions of Android owners use daily or the best Nest Hub or speaker features, they’re still features fans have become accustomed to using over these past several years. Soon, they’ll completely stop working.

Notably, the ability to schedule and hear Family Bell announcements is going away, which is wonderful. The Interpreter mode for live conversation translations is another odd removal. Some people won’t like the lack of daily updates and other scheduled Google Assistant features. For what it’s worth, some of those are still possible by creating custom routines.

To make matters worse, we have no clue when these features will be removed from Assistant devices. Google didn’t give any timeline and only mentioned that users will start receiving notifications while using one of these features, letting them know that it’ll be retired soon and stop working.

I guess it’s all downhill from here, and Gemini will be the star of the show moving forward. And hey, if you don’t like Gemini and have a Samsung Galaxy, maybe you should give Bixby another try. It might surprise you.

Source: 9to5Google