Five Ways to Make a Gemini Act More Like Google Assistant
Google Assistant will soon receive its own, truly grand monument in the Google graveyard . The voice assistant has been a handy tool for years, but the company has finally decided to replace it entirely with Gemini. If you’re not thrilled about the introduction of AI into every app you use, there are a few ways to make Gemini behave a little more like the old Assistant.
The transition away from Google Assistant has been a long time coming; it’s a sea change for many devices. In addition to deprecating Assistant support on Android phones and tablets, it’s also disappearing from Wear OS devices and some Android Auto vehicles. Some smart home devices and TVs will still support Assistant, but you can switch to Gemini (and you might want to, as the choice will likely be made for you eventually).
Regardless of your feelings about AI chatbots, using Gemini may be unavoidable if you work in the Google ecosystem. So, if you want to retain the functionality you had in your phone, car, or kitchen, it may require some effort. Here’s how to get started.
Set your default assistant everywhere.
When September arrives, your Google phones, tablets, and watches will move into the Gemini constellation, but this may not include all your devices. If you’re going to reprogram your muscle memory, it’s best to do it now.
Depending on when you set up your Google Home or Nest devices, you may have seen a prompt to upgrade to Gemini. If not, open the Google Home app, tap your profile photo, and select “Home Settings.” Here you should see a banner allowing you to set up Gemini for Home.
It may seem counterintuitive to ditch Assistant to make Gemini work more like Assistant, but in the following sections, I’ll explain how to reconfigure your favorite Assistant commands. This step will make the entire system more stable, but activating Gemini on your smart speakers is technically optional. Just keep in mind that if you choose not to, issues may arise if your phone and smart speaker compete for responses to your commands from different assistants.
Disable unnecessary personalization features.
One of the Google Assistant’s appeals is its simplicity. Turn lights on and off, set reminders, and so on. No attempts to plan your meals based on your travel itinerary, anime viewing history, or anything similar. If you appreciate this kind of simplicity, try reversing our previous advice and disabling many of the “connected apps” it features.
In the Gemini app on your phone, you can find this under Settings > Personal Intelligence > Connected Apps. Here you’ll find a list of apps that you can enable (or disable) to influence Gemini’s performance. You may want to disable some of them to streamline your assistant’s responses, such as Google Workspace or Search Services. These apps use data associated with your Google account to personalize results, which may interfere with your desired experience.
However, some of these apps should probably be left enabled. For example, Google Home is used to control smart home devices, while Utilities is responsible for things like timers and alarms. Other features, in typical Google fashion, are a bit confusing. For example, reminders are typically handled by Google apps like Tasks (or sometimes Keep or Calendar ?), so depending on your needs, you might want to leave Workspace enabled.
Use the Gemini instructions to create custom commands.
I’ve been praising this feature for a while now , but if Gemini’s behavior irritates you, the most powerful tool for bending it to your will is the “Gemini Instructions” tool (formerly “Saved Info”). While it’s technically used to store information about you that you want Gemini to consider, you can use it to create custom shortcuts that work much more like the Assistant did before.
To access this feature, go to Settings > Personal Intelligence > Gemini Instructions in the Gemini app. Here, you can add custom instructions in natural language. For example, if you want to turn off the living room and kitchen lights with a short command, you could add the following instruction: “If the prompt only consists of ‘goodnight,’ turn off the living room and kitchen lights.” You can further customize this command to ensure it works reliably.
This can also be a convenient way to ensure Gemini is using the correct app or tool to perform the commands you need. For example, if you want to add a note to Google Keep, but Gemini constantly tries to set reminders through the Tasks app or something similar, you can add custom instructions to the “Always use Keep to store notes and reminders” option to ensure your future commands work as you want.
Use scheduled activities to replace routine activities.
The Google Assistant’s scene creation feature has evolved several times over the years and is currently located in the Google Home app. However, following Google’s long-standing ” create two instances of everything ” strategy, you can also use scheduled actions in Gemini to replace some of this functionality. While this isn’t strictly necessary, as long as Google Home automations exist, it may be easier to do everything from a single app that already encourages you to do so. This is especially true if you’re worried about the old method suddenly disappearing.
In the Gemini app, go to Settings > Scheduled Actions and tap New Action. Here, you can give your routine a name and describe what you want Gemini to do, using the same natural language as other Gemini commands. You can also set the time and frequency of the action.
Gemini works a little differently than Assistant, so some of these commands may not execute with the precision you’re used to. The Gemini app notes that scheduled actions are prepared an hour in advance, so keep that in mind. This tool can be useful, for example, for your morning routine, providing you with a morning briefing at the same time as turning on your lights. But if you need very simple actions—like simply turning on a light—you can still use automations in the Google Home app.
Choose the fastest model (if possible).
One of the biggest drawbacks of the forced switch to Gemini is that command processing can take significantly longer. Recognizing a few keywords, such as “turn on the light,” is quick, but processing entire sentences becomes more challenging. If you preferred the speed of Assistant and don’t require more complex analysis of your instructions, upgrading to a Gemini model may help.
In most cases, you can’t change the default Gemini model (please Google it), but in the Gemini app, you can tap the model drop-down menu and select the newest and lightest model. At the time of writing, this is 3.5 Flash-Lite, but this may change later. Generally, the fastest model will be the one with the oldest version number, followed by words like “Flash” or “Lite.”
There’s also an optional toggle labeled “Advanced Reasoning,” which typically attempts to handle more complex tasks. However, it also adds additional processing time, delaying simple commands like setting alarms. Disabling it will generally result in faster responses. Depending on how you run Gemini, you may not have the ability to adjust the models, but if you do, you can significantly speed up the process by making these adjustments.