'Gemini Is Our Fastest-Growing Product Ever': Sundar Pichai As App Crosses 1 Billion Monthly Users

Google's Gemini app has crossed 1 billion monthly active users, with chief executive Sundar Pichai describing it as 'our fastest growing product ever'. The app is now the 14th Google product to reach the billion-user mark, joining Search, Gmail, Android, Maps, Chrome, Play and YouTube. Pichai credited Google Labs vice-president Josh Woodward and the wider Gemini team for the milestone.

A rapid climb in user numbers

The growth trajectory over the past year has been steep. Alphabet had put the app at 650 million monthly users in October 2025 and 750 million by February. Pichai cited 900 million users on stage at Google I/O in June, and the company's July quarterly report placed the figure above 950 million. The jump to 1 billion has come within weeks of that quarterly update. By comparison, Gmail took roughly 14 years to reach a similarly

Voice, images and platform spread

Google paired the announcement with usage data rather than revenue figures. The company said 63 percent of Gemini users interact with the app by voice, with parents 43 percent more likely to use voice for everyday tasks. One in five interactions on Gemini Live involves a live camera feed or screen sharing, and 38 percent of school-related requests include an attachment. The company also disclosed that the assistant generates more than 150 million images daily. On distribution, Google said it now has more than 100 million active users on iOS.

Positioning against OpenAI's ChatGPT

The milestone places Gemini in close contention with OpenAI's ChatGPT, which had already crossed the 1 billion monthly active user mark in June. Unlike ChatGPT, which relies largely on its standalone platform, Gemini's growth has been aided by its integration across Search, Workspace and Android, in addition to the standalone app. The company noted that this figure is specific to the Gemini app and does not include usage of Google's separate AI Mode in Search, which has itself crossed 1 billion monthly active users globally.

Timing ahead of Made by Google event

The announcement lands ahead of Google's Made by Google event, where the company is expected to unveil further Gemini-powered features for its Pixel devices. It also follows closely on the heels of newer model releases, including Gemini 3.5 Flash, which Google says is built to improve coding and autonomous AI-agent tasks. What the announcement did not include was any breakdown of paying subscribers. Google has not disclosed how many of its billion monthly users pay for the service, with subscription tiers ranging from $7.99 a month for Google AI Plus to $100 a month for Google AI Ultra. The scale of the milestone comes against the backdrop of Alphabet's rising infrastructure spend, with the company having raised its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion, much of it directed toward the compute infrastructure that powers models like Gemini.