You can now talk to Google Gemini from your iPhone’s lock screen

Google Gemini users can now access the AI chatbot directly from the iPhone’s lock screen, thanks to an update released on Monday first spotted by 9to5Google. Users can now call up Gemini Live, Google’s relatively real-time voice feature for its AI chatbot, before they unlock their phone by adding a Gemini widget to their lock screen.

As Apple’s version of an AI-enabled Siri reportedly faces delays until 2027, competitors in the AI space are stepping in to supply iPhone users with AI assistants of their own. These features may give iPhone users a sense of what’s possible with LLMs and voice assistants, though Apple’s version of an LLM-powered Siri may be far more integrated with the iPhone’s other functions when it ultimately ships.

ChatGPT’s iOS app also lets users call up OpenAI’s near real-time voice feature, Advanced Voice Mode, from the lock screen.

Besides Gemini Live, the updated Gemini app also includes several other lock screen widgets, including one for taking pictures using the iPhone camera and uploading them to Gemini; one for setting reminders and calendar events; or another that lets users jump straight to a text chat with Gemini.

Google also announced on Monday that later in March, it would allow Gemini users on Android to ask its AI chatbot questions about video and onscreen content, and get answers in real time. These features were first unveiled as part of Project Astra, Google DeepMind’s multimodal AI project that is slowly making its way into the Gemini app. To start, these features will be available for subscribers to Google’s $20-a-month Gemini Advanced plan.