Google Assistant to be discontinued by March 2026

Google is killing yet another app, this time Google Assistant is getting the axe. The app is set to be discontinued in March 2026.

Google Assistant was launched in 2016, as a voice-based virtual assistant that users could interact with using natural language and the Hey Google wake word. It was integrated in many of Google's apps and handled many tasks from setting timers, alarms, playing music, navigation in Maps, etc. But things have evolved rather quickly over the past few years, with AI taking over many things. Google even integrated Bard in Gemini in 2023.

It was inevitable really, Assistant was running on borrowed time. Google has been steadily removing features from Assistant since January 2024, including assessing the Assistant from the Google Search bar on Android.  In March this year, the Mountain View company had announced that it would be phasing out Google Assistant on mobile devices, in favor of Gemini. Driving Mode was removed from Assistant in April 2025.

But Google had not revealed the precise timeline for the app's end of support, it had merely said that it would be "upgrading" more users to Gemini, and discontinue Google Assistant in 2025. Android Authority reported (via The SP Android) about a support page on Google's website says that Google Assistant will be available for use until March 2026. That's when it will be sunset.

Google Assistant has been popular on Google Home devices, and reports indicate users haven't found Gemini to be a perfect replacement. Gemini also requires a lot more permissions, and access to user data to function. Perhaps Google is still working out the kinks in Gemini to make it more reliable.

On a side note, Google has denied that it is using user data for training its AI models. Over the past few days, some news outlets reported that Google had secretly enabled some settings in Gmail, opting users in automatically into Smart Features, which gave the email service access to all messages, attachments. In a statement sent to ZDNet, a Google spokesperson had said that the reports are misleading, and that Gmail Smart Features have existed for many years, and that Google does not use Gmail user data to train Gemini's AI model.

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