Google launches Gemini app for macOS users

Google today enhanced its Gemini experience for macOS users with a new native app. The app allows fast access to Gemini right from the dock and lets users share their screens directly with the tool.

"With our new native desktop experience, you can share anything on your screen with Gemini to get help with exactly what you’re looking at, including local files. If you’re reviewing a complex chart, you can share your window and ask, 'What are the three biggest takeaways here?' to get an instant summary. This brings powerful context to your creative work as well," Google's Michael Friedman said on Wednesday.

Where the Gemini app outpaces the web version is in its tight integration with the operating system. There’s support for quick access via an Option + Space shortcut to share a window directly with Gemini, and you’re able to share any window with the AI to use as the starting point for a query.

Gemini is available for all macOS users running macOS 15 and up.

A shift to the desktop?

Though Google has often relied on its web and mobile apps, the company is making a play for desktop users this week. It has also launched a new Google app for Windows users that works much like Spotlight search does on macOS. It’s not Gemini, instead focusing on quick responses to search queries, but it also comes with Google’s AI Mode for deeper queries.

"With AI Mode built right in, you can ask whatever’s on your mind and get helpful AI-powered responses with links to the web," Google's Vinay Mahagaokar explained.

The Google app is available for all Windows computers running Windows 10 and up.

While much of modern computing is done on one of the best smartphones that sits in your pocket, Google is betting that users are still willing to use the desktop, and pushing its new AI tools with one-tap access also makes them more intuitive and accessible.