I spend a lot of time with AI querying chatbots, testing image and video generators and playing around with vibe coding tools. But it was this new app from Google Labs that made me think, for the first time in a long time, that AI can be useful and fun.
Dreambeans is one of the latest creations from Google Labs, the experimental AI branch also behind NotebookLM. Dreambeans is an AI-generated media feed -- but it isn't anything like the AI slop filling up your Instagram and YouTube feeds. It's tailored to you; it's a reminder app, shopping assistant and journal. It creates a feed of visually pleasing tiles, called stories, by pulling from your Google apps. It's a comprehensive, pastel-colored scroll.
The goal isn't socializing with others; you don't post or follow other people. It's meant to motivate you to accomplish tasks and spark your creativity. You can quickly scroll through your stories, absorb the day's most pressing reminders and spark inspiration, then log off the app to get back to your day. It's an intentionally short timeline, with only the top 10 or so stories each day.
"Dreambeans is that morning coffee for your digital life, in a way," Gozde Oznur, the product manager who helped build the app, told me when explaining the app's name and purpose. "It processes everything overnight and hands you a concentrated drop of inspiration."
Google's AI models create the feed. Nano Banana works up watercolor-inspired AI images featuring you and your loved ones. Google's personalized intelligence pulls out the topics and events that will matter most to you, from reminders to upcoming nearby events and news based on your interests and hobbies.
As I used the app over the past month, I kept coming back to one idealistic thought: Dreambeans offers a glance into what a good life with Google's AI could be.
How it works: Personalized intelligence #
My first thought upon seeing my Dreambeans is that it's visually stunning. The app takes a minimalist approach to design but prioritizes imagery. Each story has a custom portrait that dominates the feed. You can click into each story for more information, with AI-created suggestions for further searches that will lead you to Google Search.
My second thought is that this is seriously unnerving. To get the full experience, I gave Dreambeans access to all my Google apps: Workspace (which includes Gmail, Docs and Calendar), Photos, YouTube and my Google Search history. Even though I knew what was coming, it was still a bit of a jump scare to open the app and see a scarily accurate version of myself in nearly every story tile.
During my monthlong testing, I shook off that initial creepiness within two days. I knew the AI was creating these images based on selfies and pictures because I gave it access to my Google Photos. If I turned off that access, I would probably get fewer stories featuring me. But Dreambeans is most useful when you opt in to sharing info in your Google apps. It's the baseline trade-off of any personalized AI -- you have to cough up your digital data to get the best experience.
I expect this will be a turn-off for many potential users, understandably. For me, the level of control I had made me comfortable with it. You can turn off access to any Google app at any time, and you can delete your data from Dreambeans if you decide it isn't for you. Dreambeans is subject to Google's privacy policy, so your info can be used to maintain and improve its products. Dreambeans is available on iOS and Android for subscribers to Google's $100-per-month Ultra plan, but you can sign up to join the waitlist for future free access. Building the app to understand what matters most to each user was key, Oznur says. The most important part of the app was the hardest to build -- taking a person's digital footprint and distilling it into "a quiet, non-repetitive daily experience that is actually interesting and helpful," Oznur said.
The tech stack works to find the stories that are most pressing for you each day, like deadlines and upcoming events, not just ones that you may find interesting. This was mostly true in my experience.
Adding Dreambeans to my daily life #
Dreambeans quickly became part of my morning phone routine. After checking my texts, reminders and emails, I'd open my Dreambeans feed. Because it's a finite timeline, only 10 to 14 stories per day, it only added a few extra minutes to my daily digital download. But it pulled information that I didn't get through anywhere else.
"Our intention is to give you that perspective and inspiration," Oznur said. "You don't have to scroll infinitely. You just click on it, and you're good [to go]."
My disparate interests were well reflected -- stories about Apple's WWDC and the latest updates to Claude Code were integrated with info about spin class playlists, making cold foam for my Nespresso coffees, a local food festival and a new nearby bookstore to explore.
It did give me reminders and news alerts I would have otherwise missed, so it wasn't a totally repetitive or entertainment-only experience. My timeline was a decent mix of fun and serious, but your feed will inevitably look different than mine, depending on the info you give to Google. You can also give the app feedback with likes and dislikes. For example, I disliked a walnut loaf recipe story and used the chat feature to tell the app to stop sending me those kinds of recipes because I'm allergic to nuts.
The personalized intelligence was always on display. Take this story, for example. The watercolor image of me is fairly accurate, thanks to selfies in my Google Photos. The story is about styling a pair of new white Adidas sneakers, probably inspired by my shopping searches and Gmail receipt. But I'm also wearing a blue vest I recently purchased, my always-on gold necklace and a side part in my hair -- ridiculously small but accurate details.
I did get a few stories for events several months down the line, like for a concert I have tickets for in October. It included helpful tips about the arena's clear bag policy and the best entrance to use, but this wasn't the information I needed on an early June morning.
Free will in the personalized AI era? #
Google's personalized intelligence, for better or worse, is extremely effective. But there's a key difference with this app: You get to choose.
You choose what apps to connect, and you can change your mind at any time. You decide how much you want this AI app to know about you. And in return, it gives you a short, entertaining feed with actually useful information.
It's not a landmark accomplishment. But in this AI era, where you can't turn off Google's AI search summaries or escape Gemini, this small allotment of agency, of choice, is important. The optimistic side of me hopes this is a positive sign for future Google AI tools.
At the very least, Google has finally built a product that makes me want to give it my information, rather than just accept that I will be forced to in order to use it. Dreambeans is a rare combination of useful and fun -- something that keeps me coming back to the app.