2 months ago
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AI has taken over Android 15 phones but hasn’t yet colonized iPhones with iOS 18. So far, iPhone users have been spared the AI-ification of their devices due to Apple Intelligence’s slow rollout. If you really want insight into what your iPhone may look like in a few months, the revised Google app with the added Gemini tab on iOS is a good place to start.
In time for the iPhone 16 debut, Google updated its Search Widget on iPhone to allow users to customize shortcuts. You can include Google Lens or Incognito Mode, but you can also add Gemini. This takes you directly to the Gemini page on the Google app rather than needing to switch tabs like you did previously. The Gemini tab now appears directly next to Google search for iOS users on the Google app. You can also customize the widget to add other helpful apps like Song Search or Google Translate.
Gemini on iPhone can’t do much other than offer natural language responses to your queries, translate text, or craft some off-putting AI images. You’ll also need to pay for Gemini Advanced for Google’s more advanced AI model and the ability to run Python code within the chatbot interface.
It doesn’t sound like such a big change, but it does offer a small window into how our iPhones will look in a few months. Google’s easy-access Gemini is essentially equivalent to how Apple plans to integrate ChatGPT.
The first few Apple Intelligence features of the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 users can expect will be AI-enabled writing tools and a few spare generative features like Image Playground. You could also access some Apple Intelligence features through the iOS 18.1 developer beta. Gizmodo has tried some of these features out, and they still feel like they’re in the early stages of development. The Magic Eraser-like pixel replacement tool called Clean Up can create some very wonky effects. Examples include people’s torsos ripped in half or other odd artifacts where objects used to be.
The expanded Siri, which can interpret everything you do with your phone across apps, probably won’t arrive until 2025. As Apple describes it, Siri 2.0 sounds a lot like Gemini Live, though with the added benefit of a supposedly extra-private cloud server infrastructure.
Google Pixel 9 devices already bear a striking resemblance to the iPhone, but there’s a clear divide between Apple and Google’s software suite. The Mountain View tech giant is promoting Gemini Live as its bread and butter.
Google’s latest Pixel 9 devices are stuffed to the gills with the search giant’s AI, whether it’s in your favorite work apps, Google Home, or the assistant called Gemini Live. It’s clear Google is ahead of Apple regarding AI integration, but the lingering question is whether any of this is worth using. I personally have no use case for AI-generated text. I find it insulting that Google thinks I need it to write something as simple as an email, let alone an article. While it’s workable for brainstorming sessions, I’m equally antagonistic to the idea that I’ll use it to send wonky images to my friends. If I’m so devoid of memes I need to resort to AI, I know I’ve hit rock bottom in my obsessively online career.
