Gemini for Home is missing something Google Assistant users took for granted

Google’s shift from Assistant to Gemini for Home is a step forward in many ways, but it hasn’t really been a smooth transition. Google Home users are still running into missing Assistant features, and it now appears that one commonly used capability many people took for granted is gone in Gemini for Home, unless you’re willing to pay up.

As highlighted by PC World and Google Home users on Reddit, Google Home and Nest speakers and displays no longer support Google Assistant’s Continued Conversation feature for free after upgrading to Gemini for Home. The feature allows users to ask follow-up questions without repeatedly saying the “Hey Google” wake word for every query, but that convenience quietly disappears once you switch to Gemini.

With the new experience, Continued Conversation has effectively turned into Gemini Live, and access is now locked behind the $10 per month Google Home Premium subscription. Gemini Live is obviously a more advanced way of having an ongoing conversation with Google’s AI, but given that Continued Conversation was a free feature and made speaking to Assistant more tolerable, users aren’t thrilled with the change.

To make matters worse, there’s no way to roll back to Google Assistant once you switch to Gemini for Home. Continued Conversation still works on Assistant-powered smart speakers and displays, but once you make the jump to Gemini, you’re locked into the new experience and behind the paywall.

User frustration is mounting on Reddit, where multiple threads confirm that Continued Conversation is broken under Gemini without a paid plan. The discussions have also snowballed into broader discussions about the lack of Assistant features in Gemini for Home.

According to users, Gemini struggles with several tasks that Google Assistant handled effortlessly. These include simple things like calling contacts, setting timers and alarms, handling follow-up requests, and performing basic voice assistant functions.

All of this comes at a time when Google is aggressively rolling out Gemini for Home updates to everyone who wants it. However, it may be a while before the new experience is fully baked and functions as smoothly as Assistant did at one time.