Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
ZDNET’s takeaways
- Gemini Live now works with Calendar, Maps, Keep, and Tasks.
- Update is rolling out to most Android and iOS users.
- It can add events, guide routes, and manage lists or notes.
In May of this year, Google debuted Gemini Live with screen sharing and camera access for Android. Google has been slowly integrating the feature, which lets you ask Gemini about anything on your screen (or that you can see with your camera), into its suite of apps since June.
Gemini Live is getting a little more useful this week, as it’s officially rolling out for Calendar, Keep, Maps, and Tasks apps.
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First noticed by 9to5Google, most users are now seeing Google’s real-time AI voice assistant across new apps. You can tell if the update has hit your device by opening the Gemini app, tapping the Live button in the bottom right corner, and looking directly above the Live controls.
If you have the capability, you’ll see small chips for the connected apps when Gemini Live is accessing them.
Gemini Live’s new tricks
Calendar
With Calendar, you can check your events for the day, make a new event with your voice, and even use your camera to point at details (like date and time) to add that event to your calendar. I gave this a quick test with a flyer for a school event, and I was surprised at how easy it was.
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What really blew me away, though, was when I tried it with my alma mater’s football schedule for the upcoming fall season. I asked Gemini to add all the home games since I’m a season ticket holder. The AI was able to discern which games were home games and add the events to my calendar, including time and opponent. Live even went down the list, recapping, “I’ve added games against App State, Georgia, Army… to your Calendar.”
Maps
Gemini Live for Maps is useful for getting guidance to a certain spot, and it even works with other Google apps. I asked Live to “guide me to the event that’s on my calendar today” (the same school event I added earlier), and it showed me the way. It didn’t pull up Maps by itself, but it did create a link I could easily tap to get going.
Tasks
When it comes to Tasks, Gemini Live can show your saved lists. You could do this on your own easily by pulling up the Tasks app, but Live is an easier way to access your lists. I was able to add tasks to my list and see what was on my to-do list.
Keep
Similar to Tasks, Keep’s integration with Google Live is simple but makes an existing capability a little easier to access. I was able to add notes to Keep.
The new capability is available on both the Android and iOS versions of Gemini Live.
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As a reminder, you can turn off Gemini in your Gmail, Docs, Photos, and more if you’d rather not have anything to do with Google’s AI.
