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Aug 24, 2026 — 10:21 AM ET
- A recent Google app update has added a new Ask Gemini button within Android’s text selection menu.
- While you could already add selected text to Gemini using the Share button, this new Ask Gemini shortcut makes it a one-step process.
- It’s unclear when this particular shortcut was rolled out, but we’re seeing it across multiple Google app versions.
You can already access Gemini on most Android phones by long-pressing the power button, and Google has since found new ways to bring its generative AI experiences to its other apps, like with Chrome for Android. Back in March last year, we exclusively reported on an Ask Gemini text selection menu shortcut designed to appear when you select text in other apps. It has taken a while, but it now looks like this particular integration is slowly beginning to roll out.
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Looking at version 17.51.19 of the Google app, we found the Ask Gemini shortcut appearing in the text selection/context menu across multiple apps. Tapping Ask Gemini immediately opens the app, with the selected text automatically pasted there.
It’s unclear when this feature was rolled out in the Google app, since we’re also seeing it in version 17.51.18. One of the primary benefits of this shortcut is that it lets you directly carry out a Gemini query by tapping Ask Gemini and hitting send in the Gemini app. Previously, you had to manually tap Copy in the text selection menu and then paste it in the app.
You can see the results of that above, with the copied text automatically pasted to Gemini, and all that’s required is hitting the send button. Google already lets you add selected text to the chatbot by tapping the Share button in the same context menu and selecting the Gemini icon in the share sheet. However, this dedicated Ask Gemini shortcut makes it a one-step process.
In addition to apps like Google Chrome, this Ask Gemini button also appears in the context menu when you copy text in browsers like Mozilla Firefox, as well as other third-party apps, such as WhatsApp and Slack.
While a couple of our screenshots show how the context menu appears on a foldable interface, the Ask Gemini option may be hidden behind the three-dot button on some slab-style phones, as you can see above. Still, this is a worthwhile addition to Android, and should make it easier to dive into Gemini immediately. This particular shortcut appears to have rolled out as part of a server-side update, including to users on the stable version of the Google app.
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