It’s official—Google Assistant is gone from Waze on iOS. After months (actually, over a year) of frustrating bugs, unresponsive commands, and overall poor integration, Waze is pulling the plug on Google’s voice assistant for iPhone users.
But why now? And more importantly, what comes next? Let’s break it down.
The Struggle Was Real
Waze first introduced Google Assistant on iOS back in 2020, hoping to bring hands-free navigation and voice controls to Apple users. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work as planned.
From failed voice detection to inconsistent responses, the experience was hit-or-miss—mostly miss. Users reported that Google Assistant would often ignore commands or stop responding mid-navigation, which is the last thing you want when you’re driving and need real-time directions.
Waze acknowledged these issues but never really fixed them. And after over a year of frustration, they’ve finally decided to cut their losses and move on.
Meet Gemini, Google’s AI Assistant
So, what’s replacing Google Assistant? While Waze hasn’t dropped all the details yet, all signs point to Google Gemini, the company’s next-gen AI assistant.
Gemini is designed to be smarter, faster, and better at understanding context than Google Assistant. Unlike its predecessor, Gemini can handle follow-up questions, understand more natural language, and even provide better recommendations.
That means iOS users might finally get a voice assistant on Waze that actually works as intended.
What about Android Users?
If you’re an Android user, don’t panic. Google Assistant is still available on Waze for Android, at least for now. But with Google’s focus shifting toward Gemini, there’s a good chance it might replace Assistant across all platforms in the near future.
For now, iPhone users are stuck without an official voice command option on Waze—but if Gemini delivers, this could be a major upgrade.
Google Assistant’s removal from Waze on iOS is long overdue, given its buggy performance. While losing voice commands for now might be annoying, the potential switch to Gemini could finally bring a smoother, smarter hands-free experience.
What do you think? Was Google Assistant on Waze as bad as people say? And are you excited for Gemini to take over?
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