Google Releases Gemini for iPad
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Although there’s a good chance that iOS 19 will add Google’s Gemini to Apple Intelligence, fans of the search giant’s chatbot don’t need to wait for that. There’s already a standalone Gemini app for the iPhone that’s been available since November, and now Google has expanded that to embrace the iPad’s larger canvas.
Like most iPhone apps, the iPhone version of Gemini could be installed and used on an iPad, but it was ugly and cumbersome as it opened in the smaller iPhone format, complete with an iPhone keyboard — far from a native iPad experience.
This week’s update turns Google Gemini into a universal app — a single binary that works on both the iPhone and iPad. There’s no Mac version yet, but that’s typical for all of Google’s apps. Like Gmail, Maps, and Calendar, Gemini works quite well in a web browser.
The iPad app brings all the features of the iPhone version to a format optimized for Apple’s tablet, matching what’s already been available on Android tablets for some time. There’s also support for Apple’s multitasking features like Split View, so you can leave Gemini up and running alongside whatever else you’re working on.
It also includes the Gemini Live chatbot, which lets you have natural conversations in over 45 languages, Deep Research, Audio Overview to analyze audio files, Canvas for collaborative editing, and image and video generation. Note that not all features are available to all accounts or in all countries; personal accounts should get most of them, especially those on a Google One AI Premium plan, but they tend to take more time to roll out to Google Workspace users.
Like ChatGPT, Google Gemini requires a paid subscription to take advantage of the latest models and deeper integration features. That’s around $20 monthly for personal users to subscribe to Google One AI Premium; however, business and school users should already be covered as Google now offers nearly its full suite of Gemini features to Google Workspace customers at no additional charge.
The update also adds a home screen widget for quick access to Gemini on both the iPhone and iPad, plus the ability to connect with your Google Photos library.
For now, Gemini is simply a standalone app, much like ChatGPT was before iOS 18.2 tied it into the core iPhone and iPad experience. However, Apple has reportedly been in Gemini negotiations with Google since early 2024, even before it unveiled Apple Intelligence. It ended up partnering with OpenAI to add ChatGPT integration, but that was never expected to be the only chatbot, and Apple promised from the start that others would eventually be added.
Evidence of Gemini’s impending arrival appeared in February when code snippets were found in Apple’s back-end services, referencing Google as an alternate “third-party model.” Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed that a deal with Apple was imminent, hinting that we could see an announcement next month at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
If Gemini does make an appearance, it will likely fit into the same role as ChatGPT. Apple Intelligence relies predominately on its own large language models developed by Apple; ChatGPT acts as an extension to handle more complex tasks, particularly those that require “world knowledge.” For example, Siri will offer to ask ChatGPT when it can’t answer your query on its own, and Writing Tools can use ChatGPT to compose or revise text. There’s no reason to believe Gemini will do anything more with Apple Intelligence, but it remains to be seen whether users will be able to have more than one extension enabled at a time or if they’ll have to choose only one.
