In February 2024, Google introduced the Gemini chatbot, which replaced Bard. At the same time, it became possible to choose Gemini as the default digital assistant on an Android smartphone. The AI ​​replaces the default Google Assistant — albeit in a limited mode.

The neural model can work with voice and text queries, as well as scan images and the current smartphone screen. You can launch the camera directly from the Gemini interface, take a photo and add a question to it – for example, ask what kind of flower you photographed. The assistant can also generate images through the Imagen 2 neural network. But this function does not work now: it turned out that the algorithm reproduces racist prejudices .

Gemini is capable of accepting questions and responding in 40 languages, including Russian.

In general, Gemini resembles ChatGPT in its capabilities: the neural network copes with basic questions and creative tasks, can write program code, and also briefly retell text from a link. Google also offers a paid subscription Gemini Advanced with access to a more advanced neural model Gemini Ultra. The service costs $19.99 (~1800 rubles) per month, but you can’t pay for it with a Russian card.

If you set Gemini as the default digital assistant on your Android smartphone, the chatbot interface is a mini-window on top of the current application. To call it, just swipe from the right or bottom corner of the screen to the center or say “Okay, Google”. In the operating system settings, you can assign the assistant to launch by holding the power button (“Settings” → “System” → “Gestures” → “Long press of the power button”).

In some ways, Gemini is inferior to Google Assistant. For example, the neural interface does not support integration with third-party players and podcast applications, and it also cannot launch created chains of actions (Routines).

Google prohibits users from Russia from installing Gemini, but you can pretend that the smartphone is in the hands of an American (or Englishman).

Installing Gemini . There is a separate Gemini app for Android, which actually acts as a shortcut to the Google Search app, inside which the neural model interface “lives”. The program cannot be downloaded from Google Play with a Russian Google account — but you can download the installation file (APK) and install it manually. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to the APKMirror website , which collects an archive of installation files for various applications.
2. In the All versions section , click on the topmost, i.e. the most recent, version of the Gemini application.
3. On the new page, find the Download Google Gemini section and click on the file download icon.
4. On the new page, click on the Download APK button .
5. Wait until the file with the .apk extension is downloaded to your smartphone’s memory.
6. Open the notification panel and tap on the notification about the downloaded file.
7. Wait for the application to install. The main thing is not to launch it yet . Therefore, in the window with the message about the installation completion, click “Done”. If the system notifies you about the prohibition of installing applications from untrusted sources, click the “Settings” button, switch the “Allow installation from this source” checkbox to the active position, and in the newly appeared window, click “Install”.

Setting up your smartphone and Google services . To make sure everything works out, you should disguise your “origin” as much as possible. To do this:

1. Change the language of Google Assistant . Open the Google app, tap your avatar in the top corner, go to Settings → Google Assistant → Languages, tap Russian (Russia) and select English (United States) from the menu.
2. Change the language of Google services . Open the Settings app, go to Google → Manage your Google account → Personal information → Language and select English (United States) under Preferred language.
3. Change the Android interface language . Open the Settings app, go to System → Languages ​​→ System languages ​​and move the English (United States) option to the first position. If there is no such option, select it via the Add language button. Later, you can return the interface language to your usual one.

All that’s left is to set up a DNS server so as not to give away your location from the network’s point of view. The comss.dns.controld.com server is well suited for this task . To change the default DNS server:

1. Open the Settings app and go to the Network & Internet section.
2. In the Private DNS section, select the Manual option (Private DNS provider hostname) and enter comss.dns.controld.com in the text box .
3. Click Save.
4. To check, open the site gemini.google.com – if the page does not warn that the service is not available in your country, everything is OK.

It is important not to change the DNS server, otherwise the smartphone will soon return everything to the way it was – that is, Google Assistant will become the default assistant.

Now you can launch the installed Gemini application. Agree to the terms of use and start working. If necessary, return the Russian language of the OS interface in the Settings application (section System → Languages ​​→ System Languages).

To select Gemini as your default digital assistant, in the Gemini app, tap your avatar in the top corner, go to Settings → Digital assistants by Google, and select Gemini.