In addition to all the developments yesterday, the Gemini mobile app now lets you trigger Google Assistant Routines on Android.
Since launch in February, you haven’t been able to start Routines using Gemini on Android: “shortcuts to start a Routine and Routines attached to alarms in the Clock app no longer work.”
You can now say “start [routine]” and Google Assistant will be invoked within Gemini to run it. (Typing to trigger a Routine does not work.) However, Google notes that “Not all starters or actions are supported when you use a Routine with Gemini.”
If an action is not supported, Gemini will skip it. This includes features like:
- Starters: Activating Routines via typed commands, starting at specific times (e.g. sunrise or sunset) or locations, or using home screen shortcuts.
- Actions: Playing music, radio, or podcasts; sharing fitness and sleep statistics; or sharing poems or quotes.
Besides running Routines, you can see that support is live by going to Gemini Settings > Google Assistant features in Gemini > Routines (at the very bottom).
The list of unsupported Assistant features is now Interpreter mode and Media service providers (“Podcasts, news and radio stations, and third-party music providers aren’t currently supported in Gemini”).
