Gemini Live Is Now Available to All Android Users for Free
Good news for Android users: you no longer have to pay to use Gemini Live’s camera and screen sharing features.
Google announced the update in a post on X on Wednesday. The company noted the “great feedback” they received from users about using the camera and screen sharing of Gemini Live, and announced plans to roll out these features to all Android users in the coming weeks. You might even see options right now.
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Gemini Live has come a long way
Gemini Live is a conversation mode for Google’s artificial assistant. Initially, it only supported audio: you could have a two-way conversation with the chatbot, just like a phone call with Gemini. However, back in March, Google announced ” Gemini Live with Video “, which added two key features to the conversation mode: first, you can give Gemini access to your camera and ask it questions about your surroundings. For example, you can point your camera at a sign in another language and ask Gemini to translate it. On the other hand, you can also share your phone screen with Gemini and ask it questions about what you’re doing.
Google initially brought these new Gemini Live features to the Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 , and while we knew more smartphones would be supported soon, the company announced these options as exclusive to Gemini Advanced . If you wanted to share your camera or screen with Gemini Live, you had to plan to spend $20 a month for the privilege.
However, after Wednesday’s announcement, that is no longer the case. If you have the latest version of the Gemini app installed on your Android phone, you will be able to try these features for free. Google must have calculated that an expanded user base would be worth more than the monthly $20 from a much smaller number of willing subscribers—likely due to the volume of AI training data those additional users would generate for the company. This is a change from other companies offering similar features, such as OpenAI : you need to pay for ChatGPT Plus to access the camera’s “enhanced voice” mode and screen sharing features.
Lifehacker’s David Nield tried out Gemini’s camera and screen-sharing features earlier this month when they were exclusive to the Galaxy S25 and Pixel 9. He found them to work well—at least up to a point. The bot made mistakes, but most of them were understandable, such as misidentifying a Fitbit Charge 6 as a Fitbit Charge 5. It could translate social media posts and determine who won a football match on a website with the score, but when asked when the game was played, it mistook a recent match for one that was played almost two years ago.
These features were available as of Wednesday, April 16, but Google says they will be rolled out in the coming weeks. If you don’t see these options yet in the latest version of the Gemini app, just wait.