Google’s AI Mode could soon get an important Gemini feature (APK teardown)

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Google is gradually enhancing its AI-powered assistant experience on Android, and a recent APK teardown of the Google app reveals that AI Mode might soon receive a major update—integration with Gemini’s multimodal capabilities. This update could take Google Assistant to the next level, offering users smarter, more contextual, and natural interactions with their devices.

What Is AI Mode?

AI Mode is a new way Google is testing to transform the traditional Google Assistant into something much more powerful and intuitive. Instead of simply responding to commands, AI Mode leverages Google’s Gemini AI (formerly Bard) to generate human-like responses, understand context better, and even assist with complex tasks like content creation, summarization, translation, and coding help.

While AI Mode is still in limited testing across certain Pixel and Android devices, signs point to a broader rollout in the near future.

APK Teardown Reveals Upcoming Gemini Integration

According to a recent APK teardown of the Google app (version 15.27.28.29) by developers and Android experts, there are strong hints that Gemini AI will soon play a deeper role in how AI Mode functions. Here’s what’s been uncovered:

🔍 New Strings and Code References

Developers have found new code snippets referencing:

  • gemini_contextual_ai_mode
  • enable_multimodal_ai
  • gemini_voice_assist
  • generative_response_module

These strings strongly suggest that Gemini’s multimodal capabilities—which allow it to process text, images, and voice together—may soon be part of the AI Mode experience.

🎯 More Contextual Awareness

With Gemini, AI Mode could move beyond basic tasks and truly understand your device’s context, including:

  • What’s on your screen
  • Recent activity
  • Voice and visual inputs together

This would make AI Mode more personalized and proactive, providing smarter suggestions, richer answers, and even step-by-step help based on what you’re doing.

What This Means for Users

If these features roll out as expected, AI Mode could:

  • Replace the traditional Google Assistant
  • Offer chatbot-like interactions with real-time help
  • Understand voice commands with visual context
  • Provide help with writing emails, composing social media posts, or summarizing documents

Imagine asking your phone, “Help me summarize this article,” while reading it—and getting an AI-generated summary instantly. Or, taking a picture of your whiteboard notes and asking for a structured bullet list or email draft.

This would put Google’s AI experience in direct competition with ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Siri’s upcoming AI revamp.

Gemini Nano: Powering AI Mode On-Device

Google is expected to use Gemini Nano, the smallest and fastest version of its AI model, to power many of these features on-device, especially on flagship phones like the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 9 series.

This ensures faster response times, offline functionality, and more private processing without always relying on cloud servers.

Availability: When Can We Expect It?

There’s no official release date yet, but considering these strings are already appearing in the Google app, a wider rollout could come with Android 15 or the Pixel 9 launch in late 2025. Google may also announce it officially during the next Made by Google event or in a future Google AI blog post.

Final Thought

The addition of Gemini AI to Google’s AI Mode is a clear step toward a more advanced, multimodal AI assistant on Android. While still under development, the upcoming features hinted at in the APK teardown could redefine how users interact with their smartphones—making it not just smart, but truly intelligent and helpful.

As Google continues to evolve its ecosystem around AI, this could be a game-changer in the mobile assistant space.