GoKawiilShimul Sood / Android Authority
TL;DR Gemini’s experimental Device Help feature is appearing in the Gemini app on Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro devices, letting you troubleshoot your phone using natural language.
It can diagnose battery and Wi-Fi issues, open specific settings, change things like brightness and dark mode, and explain Pixel features without making you hunt through Settings.
It’s still a Labs feature and can get things wrong. Our testing produced inconsistent instructions for Magic Capture, so it isn’t completely reliable yet.
A few days ago, we spotted Google testing a clever new Gemini trick that could save Pixel users from digging through the Settings app every time something goes wrong. That feature, called Device Help, is now appearing directly inside the Gemini app on some of our Pixel 11 series devices.
First spotted by 9to5Google, Device Help is currently showing up on Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro models we’ve checked, including our Pixel 11 Pro XL units. It still has a “Labs” badge attached, though, which is Google’s way of telling you things may not always work as expected. And after putting it through a few tests, that’s exactly what we found.
The idea behind Device Help is genuinely useful. Instead of figuring out which corner of Settings contains the thing you’re looking for, you can tell Gemini what you want in normal language. For example, you could say, “My battery has been terrible lately,” and it could help you locate some battery-related settings.
I started with something simple on my Pixel 11 Pro XL: I asked Gemini to take me to Developer Options. It immediately understood what I wanted and gave me an “Open System Settings” button. One tap later, I was exactly where I needed to be.
Things got more interesting when I asked whether there was anything wrong with my Pixel’s battery. Instead of throwing a generic battery-saving checklist at me, Gemini actually looked at information about my phone. It pointed out that I’d only been using the device for six days and that it had gone through just two charging cycles, so nothing obvious in my usage history suggested I’d already done something to hurt its battery.
It then suggested checking Adaptive Battery and, once again, gave me a button that took me directly to the relevant setting. That’s the part of Device Help I find most exciting. Gemini isn’t just explaining what a setting does; it can help you understand what’s happening on your phone and then get you closer to fixing it.
... continue reading