Summary
- Gemini’s functionality has expanded to allow control of smart home devices like lights and thermostats without needing to unlock your phone.
- This feature is enabled by toggling “Use Gemini without unlocking” in Gemini Settings, under the “Gemini on the lock screen” section.
- Devices with privacy concerns, like cameras, will still require the phone to be unlocked before Gemini can access them.
Nobody would blame you if you weren’t quite ready to give up Google Assistant in favor of Gemini — it’s simply a fact that Google’s new AI still has some catching up to do when it comes to those little quality of life features the old assistant spent years amassing. But last week, Gemini took a big step forward in this regard, finally letting you use some features while your phone is locked. As it turns out, there was more to this update than we initially thought.
Related
Gemini’s Android assistant just got a lot more useful when your phone is locked
But you have to enable a setting first
Last week, Google rolled out a new setting for Gemini’s Android assistant that lets you access the AI without unlocking your phone. Within this menu, there’s an additional option for allowing the assistant to make phone calls and send text messages while the device is locked.
What is not shown here, however, is the fact that you can now also control smart home devices like lights and thermostats via the Google Home extension for Gemini, all without unlocking the device. You just have to enable the Use Gemini without unlocking toggle under Gemini Settings → Gemini on the lock screen to activate the functionality — no need to also turn on the Make calls and send messages without unlocking setting.
The new smart home functionality from the lock screen was first spotted by a Reddit user. The folks over at Tech Issues Today saw the report and hunted down Google’s documentation for the feature, which confirms that you can now “Control most smart devices, like Smart Displays or a smart thermostat” with this setting enabled.
Sensitive smart home devices are still gated behind the lock screen
Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed in the screenshots above that the Gemini on lock screen feature “will still ask you to unlock when a response contains personal content.” In our testing, we discovered that this pertains to certain smart home devices, too.
Asking Gemini to turn on lights or adjust a thermostat from the lock screen works seamlessly. But when you ask the assistant to view one of the cameras in your Google Home, for instance, it responds with something along the lines of “Sure thing. Could you unlock your phone first? To do this, I need to check your personal content.”