Google Assistant to end on Androids from September 2026

For years, Android phone users have been using Google’s digital assistant. However, the era of Google Assistant is now coming to an end. Google Assistant was introduced in May 2016 as part of the Allo app which was discontinued several years ago.

However, following the arrival of Google’s artificial intelligence-powered chatbot Gemini, the company has decided to retire Google Assistant from Android phones.

According to a report by 9to5Google, Google has sent emails to some users informing them that Google Assistant will disappear from Android phones starting September 4, 2026. This means that within a few weeks, users will no longer be able to use Google Assistant on Android phones, tablets and wearable devices.

Google had initially planned to retire the service sometime in 2025 but later decided to keep Google Assistant available for some additional time. In recent months, Google has been working to make Gemini the default assistant across a number of devices.

If you are still using Google Assistant on your Android phone, you can switch to Gemini which can be used for everything from basic phone commands to a wide range of other tasks.

Gemini is a multimodal assistant meaning users can give it instructions through audio, text and images. You can also use Gemini, just like Google Assistant through the “Hey Google” voice command.