Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Gemini Extensions (now called Apps) empower Google’s AI agent to work with software and services on your behalf.
- Google appears to be working to bring Gemini Apps support to Live.
- Much like we saw with normal Gemini, support for Apps on Gemini Live would likely not land all at once, instead deploying in phases.
Google Gemini is pretty darn multi-faceted, just as comfortable answering our questions about world history as it is lending a hand coding a new Android app. But Gemini’s talents extend far beyond just being able to tell us stuff, and with the help of Extensions (now Apps), Gemini can reach out to other apps and services and actually get some real work done directly. We may soon have an even more flexible way to take advantage of Gemini Apps, if what we just found in our latest teardown ends up panning out.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Like the WIP Live AI Mode we just uncovered, this change came to out attention during analysis of the new 16.17.38.sa.arm64 beta release of the Google app for Android. Apparently Google’s on a bit of a roll when it comes to all things Live, because this build also includes some early references to what sure appear to be Gemini Apps support for Live.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
While some devs clearly didn’t get the memo about the Extensions → Apps rebranding, it still seems reasonably clear what it is we’re looking at here.
Much like how we didn’t get support for every app, all at once, when Extensions first debuted for normal Gemini, the mention of “phase one” here sure speaks to us that we should expect a similar, spaced-out release strategy when it comes to Gemini Apps for Live. Right now we don’t have any real kind of sense for which apps might be part of that initial wave, versus those set to arrive later on, but perhaps we’ll uncover some contenders as we continue to investigate Google’s progress along this line.
Nothing’s going to be certain until we actually see Google deliver this functionality in a publicly facing way, but we have reason to be at least cautiously optimistic that this one is on pace for ultimate deployment, having previously spotted other upcoming changes in this same spot that did in fact prove to further pan out.
