Gemini Daily Brief Tests Custom Prompts, a Year Behind Samsung

Google is testing a way to tell Gemini Daily Brief exactly what to show and what to skip, according to a teardown of Google app version 17.43.11. The change adds a dedicated text box and a microphone icon to the morning AI summary, letting people type or speak what they want in future digests.

The tool is not public yet, and Google has not announced a rollout date. Samsung’s Galaxy phones have run a customizable version of the same idea, called Now Brief, since early 2025. Google’s version will also launch behind a paid Google AI subscription, narrowing who actually benefits once it ships.

A Text Box Where the Settings Menu Used to Be

The findings come from Android Authority, which pulled apart the Google app’s installer file, an APK (Android Package Kit), and found an unreleased tuning page built directly into the Gemini Daily Brief interface. Tapping a new icon opens an interactive bottom sheet loaded with ready-made suggestions.

Beyond the presets, the sheet gives users a blank field to type what they want their next digest to include or drop. A microphone icon sits inside that same field, so a command can be spoken instead of typed while getting ready in the morning.

The preset suggestions Android Authority found inside the teardown cover:

• Prioritizing email newsletters over other message types
• Surfacing upcoming school schedules for parents
• Highlighting extra calendar events beyond the default view
• Switching the summary to more concise language
• Typing freeform instructions for anything else to include or ignore
• Speaking a command through the field’s new microphone icon

Code teardowns of version 17.43.11 show the tool already working behind the scenes, though it stays switched off for everyday users while Google decides when, and how widely, to turn it on.

Samsung Already Made Personalized Briefings Normal

Google isn’t introducing the idea of a tunable morning digest. Samsung has sold one for about a year. Its Now Brief feature reached Galaxy phones with One UI 7 in early 2025 and has since become one of the more visible pieces of Samsung’s Galaxy AI push.

Owners open Settings, tap Galaxy AI, then Now Brief, then pick which content categories to include, per Samsung’s own setup guide for toggling categories like health, travel and smart home cards. A separate switch pulls richer data from connected partner apps, and another turns the whole brief into spoken audio.

Laid side by side, the gap between what has shipped and what is still hidden in a teardown becomes clear:

The two tools solve the same problem differently. Samsung leans on fixed categories a user checks once. Google is testing something looser: a text field that reads like a running conversation with the assistant, backed up by chips for people who would rather tap than type.

What Google Is Trying Not to Repeat

Rigid, one-size-fits-all AI summaries have already burned a competitor. Apple turned on AI-written notification summaries in 2024, then paused them for the News and Entertainment category in an iOS 18.3 beta after the BBC complained about accuracy.

One AI-written summary of a BBC report falsely implied that Luigi Mangione, the suspect charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, had killed himself. In a separate incident, three unrelated New York Times stories were folded into a single alert claiming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested, which was not true.

Apple said only that it was “working on improvements and will make them available in a future software update,” and the feature later returned, with clearer beta labeling, in an iOS 26 beta. Google’s version puts that kind of adjustment directly in the user’s hands, through the new text box and preset chips, before a bad summary ever reaches the top of the screen.

Who Gets Gemini’s New Brief First?

Right now, nobody gets the customization tool. It exists only inside a teardown of Google app version 17.43.11, with no public toggle switched on. Daily Brief itself has been live since Google I/O 2026, but only for people paying for Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra in the United States, which already narrows the audience the new controls would eventually reach.

Google’s own recap of I/O 2026 describes Daily Brief pulling from a user’s inbox, calendar and top tasks to build one morning overview, the same pitch Google used when it introduced Pixel 10’s Daily Hub. Free Gemini app users, and anyone outside the launch tiers, don’t get Daily Brief at all yet, customization or otherwise.

What We Know

• The interface is built. Android Authority found a working bottom sheet, preset chips and a microphone icon inside version 17.43.11.
• The backend responds. Code teardowns show the tool functioning, not just sitting as unused design assets.
• Daily Brief is already live. It launched at I/O 2026 for paid Google AI subscribers in the United States.

What Remains Unconfirmed

• No rollout date. Google hasn’t said when, or if, the customization tool reaches everyday users.
• No pricing detail. Whether the tool needs a higher subscription tier than base Daily Brief access is unstated.
• No international timeline. Google hasn’t said whether markets outside the United States get Daily Brief, or the new controls, on the same schedule.

Every one of those blanks sits with Google, not with the people who already tap through Now Brief’s settings each morning on a Galaxy phone.

Google’s Slow-Roll Playbook

Google’s release habits make the wait fairly predictable. Features routinely surface in teardowns months before Google flips a server-side switch, and Daily Brief itself has already followed that path once, from its Google I/O 2026 debut to this latest hunt through hidden settings.

The text box also fits a wider pattern spreading across Google’s Android apps: typed prompts replacing menus and toggles. Gemini’s icon-creation tools already let someone describe a custom design in plain language, the same approach that let Paris Hilton finish a pink Android icon using three Gemini prompts. Applying that pattern to a daily information feed is a bigger bet: a wrong prompt there means missing a real meeting instead of getting an off-color icon.

For now, the customization tool sits exactly where Android Authority found it. Compiled into the app, switched off, and waiting on a release date Google has not set.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Gemini Daily Brief Available Right Now?

Yes, but only in part. Google turned on Daily Brief for Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra subscribers in the United States starting at I/O 2026. The new prompt-based customization tool found in the July 2026 teardown is not part of that live version and has no confirmed release date.

Can I Try the New Customization Text Box Today?

Not through normal settings. The tool only surfaces inside a teardown of Google app version 17.43.11, meaning it is hidden in the app’s code and not switched on for regular users. Google typically flips these switches on gradually through server-side updates rather than through a single app release.

What Is the Difference Between Daily Brief and Pixel 10’s Daily Hub?

Daily Hub is a Pixel 10 launcher feature that surfaces calendar events, topic suggestions and playlist picks directly on the home screen. Daily Brief is the Gemini app’s version of the same idea, built to work across Android and iOS rather than tied to one phone line.

Does Samsung’s Now Brief Run on Google Gemini?

No. Now Brief is part of Samsung’s own Galaxy AI system, configured through Settings, and it works alongside Gemini rather than through it. Samsung Galaxy phones ship with Gemini as their voice assistant, but Now Brief’s personalization engine is Samsung’s own, separate from the Daily Brief customization Google is testing.

Will the Gemini Daily Brief Customization Tool Cost Money?

Google hasn’t priced the tool separately, but Daily Brief itself already sits behind the paid Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra tiers. Unless Google changes that structure, the new text-prompt and voice controls would likely inherit the same subscription requirement rather than launch as a free add-on.