Google is almost ready with Gemini Live’s notification panel upgrade
Summary
- Google has improved Gemini Live with a call-style notification for more seamless conversational AI interactions.
- The new interface allows pausing and resuming Gemini Live conversations without returning to the app.
- Google has been working on this design since at least November, so it could roll out widely not too long from now.
Google has made key improvements to the Gemini experience over the past few updates, including changes to Gemini Live, the AI tool that lets you have free-flowing and natural conversations with the chatbot. In November, we learned about an updated design for Gemini Live’s persistent notification, similar to the panel that appears during a standard Android phone call. It looks like Google is nearly ready to roll out this call-style notification for Gemini Live.
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Currently, when you activate Gemini Live and leave the app, a notification appears on your screen for “Live with Gemini,” with a brief explainer on what it’s doing, followed by a button to “End Live mode“. But as 9to5Google discovered, Gemini Live’s phone call notification, also referred to as a call style notification, is now available, albeit in a limited capacity.
As part of this upcoming change, users will see a notification similar to an active phone call, including large pill-shaped buttons to Hang up or Hold. There’s also a dedicated call chip that appears in the status bar when Gemini Live is listening, along with a duration indicator. However, this counter doesn’t stop even when you’ve put Gemini Live on hold, as 9to5 found.
The current Gemini Live notification
One of the key benefits of this updated Gemini Live notification panel is that you can pause/hold and resume the conversation without having to go back to the app. By contrast, in its current form, tapping the “End Live mode” on the notification ends that session, thus requiring users to manually reopen the Gemini app to resume the conversation.
This updated Gemini Live experience is not widely available just yet
Via: 9to5Google
I’m not seeing the new call-style notification for Gemini Live yet, with 9to5Google reportedly seeing it on a Pixel 9 Pro with a beta version of the Google app (version 16.4). There could be a server-side element involved here, too, so don’t be surprised if you’re not seeing the updated Gemini Live notification despite installing this particular version of the Google app.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a precise date for the broader rollout of this updated Gemini Live notification panel. But the fact that it’s already been close to three months since it was first discovered by code-sleuth AssembleDebug suggests that we may not be too far away from seeing it in action.
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