The Gemini AI assistant is finally getting support for an extension that will allow it to perform various smartphone tasks. Dubbed the Utilities Extension, it was first announced at Google I/O and can control first-party apps and functions like alarms, timers, volume controls, camera, and more. However, the Mountain View-based tech giant is slowly rolling out the expansion and it may take a few weeks for all Android device users to see the capability.
Gemini Utilities Extension
Since the launch of Gemini as an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant for Android devices, the chatbot lacks some key capabilities available with the Google Assistant. For example, it can’t open apps, click pictures using the phone’s camera, or set an alarm. To fix this problem, Google announced a new Utilities extension earlier this year. In its support pages, the tech giant announced that the extension is finally being rolled out to users.
However, there are some limitations. This feature is only available through the Gemini Mobile app on Android smartphones. For the feature to work, users need to set Gemini as the default virtual assistant. Additionally, the Utilities extension currently only works with English language prompts. Also, since this feature is being rolled out gradually, some users may have to wait for some time before it becomes available.
With this extension the Gemini AI Assistant will be able to manage multiple tasks even on the lock screen. Some of them include setting alarms and silencing them, setting and stopping timers, turning on or off flashlight, Bluetooth, DND and battery saver modes, checking device volume and battery level, turning off or restarting the device. And a lot more is involved.
Google also revealed that this extension will let the AI assistant perform multiple tasks with a single gesture. It can also open websites, apps, and settings menus. Apart from this, Gemini will also be able to open the camera app and click a picture or take a screenshot.
This extension will also give Gemini the ability to control media playback including pause and play functions as well as going to the previous or next media. However, this will only work with native media players, and may not work with apps like Spotify or Apple Music. And finally, users will also be able to set alarms and timers with this feature.
