Google shipped two desktop apps simultaneously: a native search app for Windows and a native Gemini app for macOS, both now publicly available after months of limited testing.
The Windows app, triggered by Alt + Space, floats over any active window and searches both the web and local files. It launched in beta last September in a state so broken that Google could not push updates, forcing users to manually uninstall and reinstall each new build. The official release fixes that. Web results include AI Overviews and AI Mode, matching the browser experience.
The macOS release skips a general search app entirely and delivers Gemini directly, with feature parity to the web interface. The split strategy, search-first on Windows and AI-first on Mac, is worth reading about in full because it signals where Google thinks each user base is heading.
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