The Google Gemini app is now accessible in multiple regions outside the US

Summary

• Initially limited to the US, the Gemini app is now accessible to users in Europe and Asia.
• Google recently rebranded Bard to Gemini, while also launching a mobile app and a more powerful AI model called Gemini Advanced.
• Previously, people outside the US were able to sideload the Gemini app from online sources but couldn’t use it.

Following weeks of reports about Google rebranding Bard to Gemini, the change was made official just a few days ago. At the same time, the company launched the Gemini mobile app to replace Assistant, while also announcing a beefed-up model known as Gemini Advanced, available with the $20/month Google OneAI Premium Plan. However, the new Gemini mobile app was limited to the US, with people who tried to access it elsewhere encountering a geo-block error. We can now report that multiple users across Europe and Asia have picked up access to the Gemini app.

To be clear, Google had already promised to roll out Gemini in more regions starting Monday, although Europe was not mentioned in the list. But AP’s Germany-based Google Editor, Manuel Vonau, has been able to activate and use the Gemini app (in US English) on the Pixel 8 Pro as of Saturday. Another user based in Germany says they got Gemini to work on their Pixel 7 Pro by sideloading the apk, suggesting that the wider rollout has already begun.

To reaffirm that notion, my Pixel 6a in India could also access the Gemini app without any issues. All I did was sideload and install the Google Gemini app from APKMirror, and that’s about it. I hadn’t installed the Gemini APK previously and this was my first go around. Interestingly, trying to activate Google Assistant via the power button didn’t reveal the Try Gemini card, as the one shown above, so it’s possible that the transition is nearing completion.

While the Gemini mobile app wasn’t officially available outside the US, users were able to sideload the APK from online sources. However, installing this sideloaded Gemini apk at the time didn’t bear fruit due to geo-restrictions, while some even tried their luck with VPNs. Google appears to have quietly changed this over the weekend, at least for users in Europe and parts of Asia.

On Thursday, Google Bard/Gemini product lead Jack Krawczyk said that Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America, and Africa would be next among the regions gaining support. Geography-based restrictions were only placed on the newly released mobile app, with the web version of Bard/Gemini long being available for people across the globe.

Google Gemini is easily among Android’s most significant feature additions in recent memory, although it’s still not quite perfect. Staying true to its “experimental AI assistant” branding, Gemini still has some distance to go before it can fully replace Google Assistant, with features like creating new tasks and setting reminders still absent.