One of the reasons why I haven’t been super excited about Gemini is how many things it lacks compared to the ancient Google Assistant. For a very long time, Assistant has been able to identify songs when you ask it to, which can be a real lifesaver. But with Gemini stepping into the spotlight, that seamless experience vanished, leaving a frustrating void.

For a while, asking Gemini “what song is this?” was met with a very unhelpful suggestion, just to go use a music recognition app. It was a big step backward from the Assistant experience we’d gotten used to, forcing people to go elsewhere for something that used to be so easy. Thankfully, with Gemini set to fully take over for Assistant later this year, that’s finally being fixed.

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RIP: Google Assistant Will Be Fully Replaced by Gemini Later This Year

Google Assistant’s days are numbered. Later in 2025, Google officially plans to replace Assistant with Gemini on Android phones. This comes after the company has spent the last year releasing feature updates aimed at bringing Gemini up to par with the much older Google Assistant.

In recent weeks, an update to Gemini on Android has brought back that much-needed functionality. Now, when you ask Gemini to identify a song, it automatically launches the Google app’s Song Search feature. You’ll see the familiar, pulsing sphere on your screen while it listens to the music. Unlike Assistant, the results still pop open within the Google app itself, but it’s still a huge improvement over Gemini essentially shrugging its shoulders and telling you to kick rocks.

Back in March, when Google announced its plans to depreciate Google Assistant in favor of Gemini, it mentioned it had more work to do. The company said it was focusing on improving the “quality of the day-to-day Gemini experience” for people who rely on Google Assistant. Song identification is clearly one of those features, and we’re glad to see it finally arrive.

I’m still not convinced Gemini is better than Assistant for this type of thing that didn’t used to require AI, but it’s clearly one of those features you don’t appreciate until it’s gone. Being able to simply speak a command and have my phone listen for music is nice to have. This change is currently live on Android. However, on the iPhone, “what song is this” still doesn’t trigger Song Search.

Source: 9to5Google

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