Google's Gemini AI has received a rather useful upgrade on Android phones. As announced at Google I/O 2024 earlier this year, the “Gemini on lock screen” feature is now available. This means that chatbots can now answer common questions without having to first unlock or touch the phone (via 9to5Google).

Previously, Gemini was limited to what Google Assistant could do on the lock screen. You could set alarms, tweak a few settings, control volume and media playback, and that sort of thing. To do anything more elaborate, you had to unlock the phone first; with Gemini, that is no longer the case.

The idea here is that you can ask Gemini questions about things not related to your personal information. The topic in the past has been the weather, but TechRadar notes that this could include answering math problems or asking basic facts and trivia.

This may seem like a fairly small update, but it should make Gemini quite useful in everyday life. Unlocking a cell phone can be a hassle, especially when you don't actually have the phone in your hand.

Therefore, this change should not only save us the trouble of unlocking our cell phones, but should also allow us to ask Gemini questions from across the room. Let's hope the volume is loud enough so that the response can actually be heard.

That said, you may run into things that Gemini cannot do without some sort of user authentication. So please note that this is not a gateway, and Gemini will not give out sensitive information to anyone who asks. This is the last thing anyone would want.

This feature is apparently still being rolled out, so you may not have immediate access to it. Fortunately, Google has a guide on how to turn the feature on and off, which means you can check for yourself and start asking Gemini questions from the lock screen. Or turn it off again later, if you change your mind and decide it's not worth the hassle.