Gemini Live, Google’s futuristic AI feature, is now free to use

By Bryan M. Wolfe Published September 13, 2024

A demonstration of Gemini Live on a Google Pixel 9. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Gemini Live, one of Google Gemini’s more exciting features, will soon be available to Android users for free. The Google Gemini team announced the important news on X. The tool was previously only available through a Gemini Advanced subscription.

Gemini Live provides access to a Gemini AI chatbot, allowing you to have natural, free-flowing conversations with the AI using your voice instead of typing. Think of Gemini Live as your new digital best friend on your mobile device. It is capable of answering questions, assisting with homework, helping you plan trips abroad, and much more.

Recommended Videos

Gemini Live was previously only accessible with a Gemini Advanced subscription, which costs$20 monthly after a one-month free trial. This subscription grants access to Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 1.5 Pro, offering significantly more advanced intelligence than Gemini’s free version. This includes access to larger volumes of information, improved reasoning abilities, and higher-quality text, images, and other creative content for user prompts.

In addition, a Gemini Advanced subscription provides Gemini support for Google products like Gmail and Docs, offers Python code for developers, and grants priority access to new features.

Furthermore, Gemini Advanced unlocks 2TB of advanced storage through Google One. This storage works with Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos, and it is utilized for device backup, similar to other Google One plans.

According to the announcement, the Gemini Live freebie is only available in English and only for Android users using the Gemini app. Apple users, who can only access Gemini Live through the iOS Google app, are not getting the freebie, at least for now.

This is massive news for anyone who wants to try Gemini Live, but doesn’t want to pay the admission price. Hopefully, the free option will eventually roll out in a new language and, of course, to all mobile users, not just those using Android.

Former Mobile and A/V Freelancer

Bryan M. Wolfe has over a decade of experience as a technology writer. He writes about mobile.

Topics

Phones

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: Everything we know about Samsung’s next flagship foldable

Though it will feature improvements across the board, the memory crisis might not spare Samsung’s Fold 8 Ultra.

Electronics, Speaker, White Board

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is not the phone that reimagines what a foldable looks like. As that job falls to its sibling, the wider-screen Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Ultra could come as the direct successor to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, with the same tall, narrow design and the same book-style proportions, for the same audience.

If you've used a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold in the past and think that the shape is perfect for you, the Fold 8 Ultra could be just the right phone for you. It has a redesigned inner display, a substantially larger battery, faster charging, and the new Flex Titanium technology designed to minimize the crease that has troubled Samsung's foldables for years.

Phones

Your OnePlus phone is switching to ColorOS, whether you like it or not

OnePlus has confirmed that OxygenOS is being phased out, and eligible devices will get the option to update to ColorOS 17 once it becomes available.

Person holding OnePlus 15.

OnePlus has confirmed that OxygenOS, the Android skin that helped define the brand for more than a decade, is being retired in favor of ColorOS. The confirmation came buried in the community forum post announcing its exit from North America and Europe.

ColorOS replaces OxygenOS worldwide

Phones

Personal Intelligence in Search now connects to Google Calendar

Google Search AI can now read your Calendar and add events automatically

Google Calendar

Google is taking another step toward making Search feel less like a search engine and more like a personal assistant. The company has announced that AI Mode's Personal Intelligence can now connect directly to Google Calendar, allowing it not only to reference your schedule but also to create calendar events on your behalf.

Until now, Personal Intelligence mainly pulled information from apps like Gmail and Google Photos to provide more relevant responses. Calendar changes the equation because it becomes the first connected Google app that doesn't just provide context. It can actively act. The feature is rolling out now to users in the United States, with a wider international rollout planned later.