Two missing features ruin it

Google had the chance of doing the most insane thing with its Gemini app on Mac, but it dropped the ball so hard that the floor cracked.

I’ve been waiting — nay, longing — for a proper Gemini app to land on Mac. Google’s been the one to warm me up to the idea of its sheer potential on desktop when it showcased the Google app for Windows. The Windows version is deeply integrated into the OS and can surface local files and apps — basically Mac’s Spotlight but for Windows. However, the new Gemini app for Mac just works as a surface-level AI assistant, while leaving so much potential for others to exploit.

The presence of a Gemini app for desktop itself is a step in the right direction, as Gemini has long trailed ChatGPT in general user acceptance. A native app on Mac cuts the extra step of first accessing the browser and then opening Gemini’s website before you can even start querying. The Mac has a convenient Option + Space shortcut — just a tiny bit more stretch than the Spotlight shortcut, and a little Gemini bar wrapped in Liquid Glass design pops up. Accessing Gemini has never been easier on an Apple device.

Being a Google product, the Gemini app has direct integrations for the new Personal Intelligence features, Google Photos, Drive, and NotebookLM. This direct access is critical because otherwise you’d have to fall back to the old browser method to share a file, defeating the very purpose of the app. Not just Drive, you can attach local files too for Gemini to process and answer your questions based on. And if required, you can share any open window with the app to give it a live view of what you’re seeing. Gemini’s Mac app isn’t agentic yet, but having a second set of (AI) eyes is often helpful.

But what matters more is what the Gemini app can do for you with all that context. Besides text results, the new Gemini app integrates with Nano Banana and Veo to generate images, videos, and even music on the fly.

That’s a well-rounded desktop AI app that is neck and neck with ChatGPT — and you can switch today if you are in the Google ecosystem. But there’s still something amiss for me, compared to its indirect Windows counterpart.

Google had a goldmine in its hands with the Option + Space shortcut. Mac users are already used to hitting the Command + Space shortcut to access Spotlight. And my wish for Google was to replace Spotlight with Gemini, as apps like Alfred already let you do. What Google added to Windows was a replica of Spotlight, complete with the perks of Google, such as Lens and AI Mode built in.

That made my hopes high for the Gemini app on Mac. I wanted a Spotlight (and even Siri) replacement built around Gemini, making it the center of discovering everything on my Mac, from local files to currency conversion. This grander vision would’ve worked even with Gemini’s current Option + Space shortcut, but Google decided to settle for a lot less.

The first thing I noticed was that Gemini’s compact bar doesn’t answer your query inline, unlike Spotlight, which has nailed this. It was a bummer for me, because Google is trying to mimic Spotlight’s interface without its most critical feature. And that’s true even for basic queries like doing a quick multiplication — so from the get-go, it can’t replace Spotlight.

Secondly, the Gemini app is also missing its own most critical feature: Gemini Live. When you install the app, it automatically adds a Gemini icon in the menu bar. When you click the button, it just opens the same small text bar that the keyboard shortcut opens. It’s again a missed opportunity. The button could instead turn on Gemini Live, letting me talk to it in real time while we collaborate on what we’re both seeing on the screen.

That — that would’ve been an apt utilization of Gemini’s potential, but all we got was a rather simplistic chatbot.

Besides this glaring miss, the Gemini app also skips a few conveniences. For instance, Gemini’s recent notebooks feature, which organizes your chats in folders like ChatGPT does, is currently missing from the app. Secondly, the app doesn’t yet support multiple Google accounts, so you’re stuck with one, even if you use different accounts — say, for personal and work — to access your chats.

It’s a good first step that Google has brought the Gemini app to the desktop, giving people one more reason to switch away from ChatGPT and be more productive with a native app. However, it’s exactly that — a good first step rather than a benchmark for others. I can’t replace Spotlight with Gemini’s Mac app, even if I wanted to, and that is its biggest weakness right now.

But I’m fine waiting a little longer to see if it ever gets there.