Google gave its generative AI products a big upgrade a few days ago by rebranding almost everything as Gemini. Virtually all of Google’s AI products and services rely on the Gemini model, from AI search to AI features in Google’s productivity apps. You can choose between the free Gemini option and the Gemini Advanced subscription.
Google Gemini is also available on mobile, with Android being the natural home. You can set Gemini to power your Google Assistant experience and invoke it with a voice command or gesture. Google’s best alternative to ChatGPT is also available on iOS, and I have already shown you how easy it is to get Google Gemini on iPhone.
But it turns out that there’s an even simpler way to get Gemini on iPhone, and you won’t even have to install a separate app to get it up and running.
As I explained, you must install the Google app and sign into it with your Google account to use Gemini on iPhone. Once that’s done, simply open the app to start talking to the chatbot. It supports text, voice, and images.
I also told you that iPhone 15 Pro users might have it even easier than that. They’d simply have to create an Action shortcut for the Google app to get access to Gemini faster.
It turns out you don’t have to be an iPhone 15 owner to get that sort of speedy generative AI experience. There’s an iPhone shortcut for Google Gemini that lets you use the chatbot without installing the Google app in the first place.
iPhone shortcut developer ProCreations came up with the shortcut called Gemini Chat.
The shortcut is available free of charge and supports Gemini Pro. It’s incredibly easy to install, and the best part is that it doesn’t require logging into a Google account.
However, your queries will go through something called pro-ai.glitch.me, a server belonging to the same shortcut developer, which might power a different shortcut called Pro AI.
The responses are generated very quickly, though the interface isn’t great. Here’s what I got in response to a question about the meaning of life. That answer took over the iPhone screen while I was editing a screenshot.
One advantage of the shortcut is that you can probably use it in regions where Google Gemini isn’t out yet. The problem with the way it works is that you can’t save any of your chats. Nor can you interact with the answer and follow up on it.
Still, the shortcut gets you fast AI responses to questions you might have. It will certainly beat anything Siri can provide since it uses Google Gemini.
You can install and test the shortcut at this link. If you’re a fan of the Shortcuts app, you can also try to tweak it for a better experience. The alternative is, of course, the official Google app.