Google Assistant's days are numbered. The Mountain View company has begun sending emails to users confirming that its classic voice assistant will cease operating on Android devices starting September 4th . That date marks the beginning of the final shutdown of a tool that debuted in May 2016 and has been the digital companion of millions of people worldwide for almost a decade. Its place will be taken by Gemini, the assistant based on generative artificial intelligence that Google has been positioning for months as the future of its entire user experience.
The news comes as no surprise, as the company had already announced its intention to retire the Assistant by the end of 2025. However, the plan was delayed because Gemini wasn't quite ready to handle all the functions. Now, the transition is irreversible , and users who were still hesitant to make the switch will have no choice. Once the change reaches each device, there will be no going back: the Assistant will disappear from the settings and can no longer be selected as the primary assistant. The only exceptions will be older phones that don't meet Gemini's minimum requirements or users in regions where the new assistant isn't yet available.
Closing date and scope of withdrawal
According to the email Google sent to affected users, which several specialized media outlets have seen, the shutdown will begin on September 4th and will be completed gradually over the following weeks. It won't be an instant shutdown, but rather a phased rollout that will reach all users little by little. When the process is complete, Google Assistant will stop working on phones, tablets, and all devices that rely on a mobile device to operate. This includes smartwatches with Wear OS , Gemini-compatible headphones, and vehicles that use Android Auto projected from the phone.
The company has confirmed that cars with factory-installed Google services—known in Spain as "Google Integrado"—are not affected by this phase-out for now. This platform, which integrates services like the Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Play directly into the vehicle's infotainment system, will continue to offer the classic Assistant after the deadline. Google Home smart speakers and displays, as well as televisions with Google TV, are also unaffected at the moment, although the company is already working on bringing Gemini to these devices, and it's only a matter of time before the Assistant disappears from them as well.
What happens to linked devices?
One of the key aspects of this transition is that once a user sets up Gemini on their phone, the new assistant will automatically become the primary assistant on all paired devices . In other words, if you have a Wear OS watch or Bluetooth headphones connected to your phone, they will stop using Google Assistant and will automatically switch to Gemini without any further action required. This automatic integration aims to make the change as seamless as possible, although not all users are convinced.
Google states in its announcement that it is committed to a smooth transition and is confident that Gemini will offer an even more capable and useful assistant experience. In practice, the activation process will be identical: simply saying “Hey Google” or pressing and holding the power button will bring Gemini to the screen. The company has worked to ensure that basic commands that users have been using for years continue to function, such as setting timers, creating reminders, or controlling smart home devices, although there are some nuances to keep in mind.
Gemini as a substitute: lights and shadows
Gemini represents a paradigm shift from the old Assistant. While Google Assistant operated with predefined rules and was fast at simple tasks, Gemini is built on a robust language model that enables much more natural conversations, understands complex requests, and reasons with context. This conversational capability is its greatest strength , but for months it has struggled with the most basic smart home commands, something millions of people use daily. This is one of the reasons Google delayed its final retirement.
Gemini's problems are not isolated incidents. Several users have reported issues managing timers, reminders, and calls, and in some cases, the assistant even claims to have completed tasks it hasn't actually performed. Jonathan Mosen, accessibility manager at the National Federation of the Blind in the United States, has indicated that they have received complaints about these issues, although he also acknowledges that Gemini has brought real improvements in accessibility, such as its integration with TalkBack, Android's screen reader. Researcher Jennifer King, from Stanford's Human-Centered AI Institute, points out that for simple and repetitive tasks, generative AI tends to complicate requests that were previously very easy to execute.
The end of an era: from classic assistant to generative AI
Google Assistant was unveiled on May 18, 2016, at the Google I/O conference, debuting in the Google Allo messaging app and the Google Home speaker. It arrived on the first Pixel phones in October of that year and later expanded to Android phones from other manufacturers, televisions, smart displays, cars, and iOS devices. For years, it was considered the most capable of the three major voice assistants , ahead of Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, and it reached over a billion devices. The famous phrase "OK Google" became part of popular culture, even in moments when we didn't want to activate it.
But the arrival of ChatGPT in late 2022 changed the game. The rise of generative AI transformed how we interact with technology and exposed the limitations of traditional assistants, which suddenly sounded very restricted compared to the fluidity of the new conversational tools. Google isn't the only one that has had to adapt: Microsoft shut down Cortana on Windows in 2023, Amazon has rebranded Alexa as Alexa+, and Apple is preparing a new AI-powered Siri . Google Assistant thus joins the list of products the company has been discontinuing over the years, such as Stadia, Hangouts, and Google Podcasts, although this time the move is more strategic than a simple service cutback.
User reactions and doubts
The news has generated a flood of reactions on social media and forums like Reddit. Many users lament the loss of the Assistant, which they valued for its reliability in simple tasks. “I wanted to call my dad while I was driving, so I told Gemini to call him. Instead of calling him, it gave me the definition of the word 'dad,'” commented one user. Another pointed out that “Gemini forces me to unlock my phone to change the temperature; it's useless.” The resistance to change is evident , and although Google assures that the transition will be smooth, some doubt that Gemini will be up to the task in all situations.
There are also complaints about Android Auto. Some drivers have been reporting stability issues with Gemini while driving, with commands failing intermittently and automations that the new assistant can't yet replicate. Furthermore, according to Google's support documentation, there are Assistant features that Gemini doesn't yet cover, such as some third-party music services, radio stations, podcasts, and Interpreter Mode. Until now, the solution in these cases was to revert to the Assistant, but that option is now permanently closed.
The retirement of Google Assistant is a move that surprises no one, but it marks the end of a decade of classic voice assistants. Google has been pushing the migration to Gemini for months, and the data supports its strategy: the Gemini app reached 950 million monthly active users in the second quarter of 2026, more than double the 450 million of a year earlier. With the shutdown on September 4, the company takes the definitive step toward a future in which generative artificial intelligence becomes the center of the entire assistant experience, for better or for worse. Users who don't meet Gemini's minimum requirements or live in unsupported regions could be left without Google Assistant, a scenario the company hasn't fully clarified and which is generating uncertainty among those affected.
