Your Latest Google News: Assistant is leaving soon and Gmail gets picture previews and a search surprise

Big changes are happening across the Google world, from when we’ll lose a familiar voice helper to new ways we see emails and even a secret message hidden in the search bar.

The most significant news concerns the classic voice assistant we’ve all used for years. Google has been slowly guiding people away from Google Assistant and toward its smarter, newer AI, called Gemini. Earlier this year, they told us that the old Assistant would soon be gone from phones and tablets.

Now, we have a firm date. According to information found on a Google Support page, the classic Google Assistant will stop working on most mobile devices in March 2026. This means if you haven’t switched to Gemini yet, you only have about three or four more months left to use the older version.

For now, you can still choose which assistant you prefer in your settings, but come March 2026, that choice will disappear as Gemini fully takes over all the Assistant’s old jobs.

In other app updates, the Gmail app for Android is getting a useful upgrade for its notifications. Before, when you received a notification, you only saw who sent it and the subject line. If an email had a file or a picture attached, you didn’t know until you opened the app.

Now, Google is changing that. The new notifications will show a little preview of what’s attached. For example, if someone sends you a photo, you’ll see a small picture right in the notification window. If it’s another kind of file, like a PDF, you’ll see a small file icon next to the subject.

When you expand the notification, you get a larger rectangular preview of the image. This feature is great for quickly seeing if an email is important, though it does mean the text of the email itself is replaced by the picture preview when the alert is expanded. This update makes finding emails with attachments much easier.

Finally, Google Search is known for adding little fun surprises, known as “Easter eggs,” for popular movies or TV shows. Right now, if you search for the name of the new Apple TV show, Pluribus, you’ll get one of these hidden messages.

The show comes from the same creator as Breaking Bad, and if you type “pluribus” into Google Search on your phone or computer, a line of text will scroll across the screen asking, “What are you searching for, Carol?” This specific quote is a fun nod to the first episode of the series. The show has already been renewed for a second season, and it’s clear Google is having fun joining in on the buzz.