Summary
- Gemini on Android can now answer general questions from the lock screen.
- The AI-powered assistant prompts authentication to continue conversations but still lacks features like reading messages or making calls.
- Google is pushing users to switch to Gemini on phones, but it has a long way to go before becoming a true Assistant replacement.
Gemini has a promising future, but on mobile, it’s not as useful as Google Assistant, and it has a ways to go before becoming a drop-in Assistant replacement. Despite this, Google has been pushing Google Assistant users to switch to Gemini on their phones. Among other things, the company’s AI-powered assistant is a lot less useful on the lock screen, requiring you to unlock your phone even to answer simple questions, like checking the weather. Thankfully, this is changing now, with Gemini on Android now capable of answering general questions from the lock screen.
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Google has updated its support page to indicate that Gemini can now “help you with answers to general questions” even when your phone is locked (via 9to5Google). Besides asking about the weather, I asked Gemini some random questions, and it replied to them without prompting me to unlock the phone. The answers are also read aloud.
Gemini prompts you to authenticate yourself if you tap on the screen or the text input box. After this, you can continue the conversation with the AI assistant. The first time you trigger Gemini from the lock screen, Google will highlight the new change on the response page.
A new “Gemini on lock screen” setting will appear in Gemini Settings on your phone if the feature is rolled out to your account. If you don’t want the chatbot to answer general questions without you unlocking the phone, you can disable the option from here.
Gemini still has a long way to go to replace Google Assistant
Google notes in its support page that if you have the “Google Assistant features on lock screen” option enabled, you can use Gemini to control selected device settings, play music, set timers, and more.
While being able to use Gemini for general questions on your Android phone without unlocking it is a welcome improvement, the chatbot still lacks many useful features from Google Assistant. With the latter, you could ask the assistant to read your unread messages and emails and make calls.
Gemini still lacks these features, and there’s no word from Google on when they will roll out.
