The decade-old voice assistant is being permanently replaced by Gemini across phones, tablets, and wearables in a multi-week rollout. Google Assistant, the voice-activated helper that has lived on Android devices since 2016, is getting the axe. Starting September 4, Google will begin removing Assistant from Android phones, tablets, Wear OS smartwatches, headphones, and Android Auto, replacing it entirely with Gemini. That deadline quietly slipped to 2026, presumably to give the company more time to ensure Gemini could actually handle all the tasks Assistant users rely on daily. Gemini needed more time to reach feature parity with the Assistant functions that people actually use every day.