Gemini For Home Update Delivers A Nasty Surprise

Google has been pushing Gemini into as many products and services as possible over the past couple of years, first landing as Bard, and eventually arriving to what it is now. And for the most part, it has been a pretty good upgrade over its previous AI efforts.

So much so that it’s hard to go back to something like Google Assistant.

There’s just no comparison when it comes to the features, and it’s always evolving with even . Of course, not everything is perfect with Gemini and there are times, although rare, when the experience takes a step backwards from previous iterations.

A simple update changes everything

This definitely applies to the currentHome experienceor at least people that have updated their compatible devices with Gemini for Home.Folks on Redditare chiming in that an essential feature that they once used with Google Assistant is no longer available (viaAndroid AuthorityandPCWorld).

While Google Assistant provides access to Continued Conversation, Gemini for Home does not — unless you’re willing to pay for theHome Premium plan. As you can imagine, this is quite a big surprise for some people. While upgrading software usually leads to better experiences, now, Google has essentially paywalled a feature that used to be free.

A game-changer

While saying “Hey Google” ahead of each command makes sense, it just sucks the life out of the experience. That’s whereContinued Conversation really comes in handyallowing you to have a free-flowing conversation in order to get the information you need each step of the way.

If you’re a long-time Google Assistant user and have been relying on Continued Conversation, this new change is going to be a huge deal. For the time being, it looks like users will need to start each query with “Hey Google” and this will need to be done for each follow-up request as well.

And while it isn’t as convenient as before, it does beat paying for Premium service. Of course, if you absolutely must have the Continued Conversation feature, you can always pay $10/month for the Premium service. It’s just a shame that Google didn’t add a warning before the update.

No way to return

Now, here’s the really bad news for those that updated. There isn’t a way to go back to the previous software. So, users that have already upgraded are now stuck with Gemini and have no access to Continued Conversation unless they pay.

Naturally, Google could make some changes in the future, but for the time being, this is where things are at. If you’re curious about how Gemini for Home will affect your products, you can alwayscheck out the plans that are availableand what features are included.