Gemini Nano, the smallest version of the Gemini model family, can be executed on-device on capable Android devices starting with Google Pixel 8 Pro and Samsung S24 Series.
To execute the Gemini Nano model on Android, you need to use the Google AI Edge SDK for Android, which provides APIs to:
- Determine if the underlying Android-powered device is supported.
- Get access to Gemini Nano model.
- Tune safety settings.
- Run inference at high performance and implement fallbacks.
- Optionally, provide a LoRA fine-tuning block to improve performance of the model for your use case.
The APIs for accessing Gemini Nano support text-to-text modality, with more modalities coming in the future.
Benefits of on-device execution
On-device execution enables the following:
- Local processing of sensitive data: Processing data locally can help you avoid sending user data to the cloud. This is important for apps that handle sensitive data, such as messaging apps with end-to-end encryption.
- Offline access: Users can access AI features even when there is no internet connection. This is useful for applications that need to work offline or with variable connectivity.
- Cost savings: You can reduce inference costs by offloading execution to consumer hardware. This can produce significant savings for frequently used user flows.
On-device execution of Gemini has many benefits; however, for use cases that require larger Gemini models, and to support a wide range of devices, you may want to consider using the Gemini API for accessing Gemini on the server. You can do this either through backend integration (with Python, Go, Node.js, or REST) or directly from your Android app through the new Google AI client SDK for Android.
How it works
On-device execution of Gemini Nano is powered by Android AICore, a new system-level capability that provides access to foundation models for on-device execution, introduced in Android 14. Foundation models are pre-installed using AICore, so you don't need to download or distribute them within your app. You can fine-tune these models for downstream tasks using LoRa. Android AICore is now available in production on Google Pixel 8 Pro and Samsung S24 Series devices and is already powering innovative features in Google apps.
For more information, see Android AICore.
What's next
To start using Gemini Nano on-device with your app, apply to our Early Access Preview of the Google AI Edge SDK for Android.
To learn how to take advantage of Gemini Pro inference on Google's servers in your Android app, read the quickstart for the Google AI client SDK for Android.