Google launches a Gemini AI app on Mac

Google is launching a new Gemini app on Mac that allows you to interact with the AI assistant without switching windows on your desktop. With the app, you can use the Option + Space shortcut to pull up a floating chat bubble, where you can ask Gemini questions and share your window.

Before sharing your window, you’ll need to give Gemini permission to access your system’s information before sharing your window. From there, the AI assistant will pull information from what you’re looking at to help answer your question.

It looks a bit like Apple’s upgraded version of Spotlight, which you can now use to perform actions on your device, as well as access AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The new app puts Google in the running to compete with Anthropic, OpenAI, and Perplexity, all of which want their chatbots to become the go-to AI model on desktop devices. But ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude app for Mac takes things a step further than Gemini, as they come with features that allow their AI assistants to perform tasks on your behalf on your computer.

Just like Gemini on the web and mobile, the Mac app also allows you to upload files, photos, or documents from your Google Drive, and use Gemini to generate images, videos, or music. You can use the app to revisit previous Gemini conversations linked with your Google account, too. The launch comes just one day after Google made its Spotlight-like app widely available on Windows.

The Gemini app is available to download for free in all languages and countries where Gemini is supported. It supports macOS Sequoia (15.0) and up.