Summary

  • Google is enhancing Samsung’s Now Bar on the Galaxy S25 with Gemini Live integration.
  • Now Bar will show if Gemini Live is actively listening to you or if the conversation is on hold.
  • This feature is likely rolling out as a server-side push and could take a while to show up on your Galaxy S25.

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 lineup includes several new AI-powered features, one of which is the Now Bar. On paper, this One UI 7 feature shows great promise. It is Samsung’s take on Apple’s Live Activities and automatically displays contextual information as and when required. However, as with most things that Samsung does, the Now Bar execution is flawed, with support for limited third-party apps. Google is now improving the Now Bar’s usefulness by adding Gemini Live integration.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra showing Circle to Search next to a plush


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Android Authority reports @TechA7mad noticed the Now Bar displaying ongoing Gemini Live activity on his Galaxy S25 Ultra. Depending on its state, the Now Bar will show if Gemini Live is actively listening to you or if the conversation is on hold.

The update is rolling out with Google app v16.6.28.ve.arm64, but since it may be a server-side push, the change may not appear live on your Galaxy S25 Ultra just yet.

If you are a frequent Gemini Live user, you can now continue a free-flowing conversation with Google’s AI even from the lock screen of your Galaxy S25. Admittedly, this is a small change, but it’s all about convenience.

Besides Gemini Live, Samsung’s Now Bar also integrates with Google Maps, showing navigation directions and other relevant information. These two integrations show that Now Bar has promise but is limited by its execution. Apart from this, the usefulness of the Galaxy S25’s Now Bar is limited to showing ongoing timers and Spotify controls.

Samsung could have done much more with the Now Bar, but that’s not the case. Hopefully, this will change with the arrival of Android 16, which brings iPhone-like Live Activities to the lock screen. Samsung can neatly integrate this feature into the Now Bar to improve its usefulness.

Gemini Live is about to get much better

Google itself is working on improving Gemini Live, with live video and screen-sharing support coming later this month. These features will enable more in-depth interactions with the AI assistant, allowing you to provide additional context through live video or screen sharing.

While Gemini Live is free to use, these enhancements will first come to Gemini Advanced users paying for the Google One Premium AI plan.