Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Phones
  3. Mobile
  4. News

Gemini’s most interesting feature is now free for all Android users

Add as a preferred source on Google
Gemini Live App on the Galaxy S25 Ultra broadcast to a TV showing the Gemini app with the camera feature open
Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

Of all the features that Google’s much-anticipated Gemini AI offers, one of the most exciting has been screen sharing and camera access for brainstorming and object identification. Previously that had been for Pixel devices only, but today Google announced that the feature is coming to all Android users for free via the Gemini app.

Our team tested out the camera abilities of Gemini and found them “shocking” — you can point your camera at an object or scene, enable Gemini to access your camera, then get information about what you’re looking at from your assistant. Point your camera at a painting, and Gemini will tell you about it via text or voice. Show it a page from a book and it’ll recognize the text and tell give you an overview of the book’s key points. Snap a photo of a sketch you’ve created, and it’ll help with guidance and advice.

Recommended Videos

You can also share with Gemini whatever is currently on your screen, such as an app or website, and ask it for help like summarizing a passage, brainstorming an idea, or providing more research on a topic. When you are in the Gemini app, there’s a “Share screen with Live” button which enables the screen sharing, and then you can interact with Gemini about whatever is on your screen or in front of your camera.

This is one of Gemini’s killer features, and Pixel users have been experimenting with it and reporting impressive results. It was initially rumored that Google might share the feature beyond those on Pixel devices, but that was confirmed officially today.

“We’ve been hearing great feedback on Gemini Live with camera and screen share, so we decided to bring it to more people,” Google wrote on X. “Starting today and over the coming weeks, we’re rolling it out to all @Android users with the Gemini app. Enjoy!”

Previously, if you wanted to use Gemini you needed a Gemini Advanced subscription, which comes as part of the $20/month Google One AI Premium plan. Now, though, Google has confirmed to 9to5Google that a subscription is no long required, so it will be available for free to all Android users.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Your child isn’t the only one addicted to a phone, says new study
Researchers say parents' screen habits could have long-lasting effects on their children's emotional development.
Father and son bonding over smartphones while relaxing on a comfortable couch at home

For years, conversations around screen time have focused almost entirely on children. How much YouTube is too much? Should teenagers be on social media? When should a child get their first smartphone? A new study suggests we may have been asking the wrong question.

According to research published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology (via Bloomberg), it's not just children's screen habits that matter. Parents who are constantly distracted by their phones may unintentionally weaken their emotional bond with their children, potentially leaving lasting developmental and psychological effects. The study surveyed 600 U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 17, many of whom reported feeling ignored or sidelined when their parents were absorbed in their devices.

Read more
Google Photos can now turn your ordinary videos into AI-generated works of art
Google's new Video Remix tool uses Gemini to relight, restyle, and even replace backgrounds in just a few taps.
Google Photos Video Remix

Google is giving Photos another dose of Gemini. The company has announced Video Remix, a new AI-powered editing tool that can transform ordinary video clips into stylized creations with just a few taps. Rather than requiring professional editing skills, Google says the feature lets users quickly reinvent existing videos using creative AI effects directly inside Google Photos.

Think of it as Photo Remix, but for videos

Read more
Spotify finally lets you pin more than four items in your library, and it only took a few years
Spotify's most embarrassingly overdue fix just happened, and it's available for free users too.
The atlantic article playing on spotify

Spotify has raised the limit on pinned items in Your Library from four to 20. Yes, you read that right.

For years, Spotify thought four items were sufficient, even as users asked for more, and today the company finally caved. Credit where it's due: 20 is actually a meaningful number.

Read more