Do I have to pay for Gemini in Chrome?

No. Google's own requirements list for Gemini in Chrome is age, region, device, an up-to-date Chrome, being signed in, and a supported device language. A Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription does not appear anywhere in it. A free Google account is enough.

How do I turn on Gemini in Chrome?

Update Chrome to the latest version, sign in, then click the Ask Gemini button at the top of the browser. You opt in the first time you use it. It will not appear in Incognito mode, or if you are browsing without signing in to Chrome.

Why can't I see it in the UK?

Four common reasons: you are under 18, you are not signed in to Chrome, your Chrome is out of date, or you are on Linux or a standard Chromebook. Google also says the rollout is gradual, so it can take days to reach you.

Can my teenager use Gemini in Chrome?

Not in the UK. Google publishes a separate, much shorter region list for under-18s, and the UK is not on it. It covers the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India and much of the Asia-Pacific. UK teens get nothing today.

Is Gemini in Chrome available in Ireland or the EU?

No. Google's availability page lists over 150 supported locales and none of the EU's major markets are among them -- no Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain or the Netherlands. The UK joining on July 14 did not bring the rest of Europe with it.

Is Gemini in Chrome on iPhone in the UK yet?

No. Google has shipped it on iPhone and iPad, and publishes requirements and a list of 171 supported locales for them. The United Kingdom is not on that list, and neither is any EU market. UK iPhone users still get nothing, and Google has given no date.

Can Gemini in Chrome book things and fill in forms for me?

Not in the UK. That feature is called auto browse, and Google's requirements for it are: 18 or over, in the US, English, and a paid Google AI Pro or Ultra plan. UK users get the free assistant that reads and summarises pages, not the one that acts.

Gemini in Chrome Explained: The UK Gets It Today, and Who Still Doesn't

What changed (August 18, 2026): the iPhone claim on this page is now wrong, and the reason it was wrong matters. This page said "iPhone and iPad are still waiting" and that Google had named no date. Google has since shipped it: its availability help article now carries a full iPhone & iPad section -- "To use Gemini in Chrome on your iPhone or iPad, you need to: Be 18 or over and in a supported region" -- with a list of 171 locales, and Google's Gemini in Chrome page has moved to the past tense: "On iOS, we built Gemini right into the Chrome app." The United Kingdom is not on that iPhone list, and neither is any EU market, so the practical answer for a UK reader is unchanged -- but the reason is now "Google left the UK off the list", not "Google has not shipped it". Separately, Google brought Gemini in Chrome to Android on August 18, 2026, and that release is the United States only. The summary, key takeaways, availability table and closing steps have all been corrected. Nothing about the UK desktop rollout has changed.

What changed (August 5, 2026): the iPhone advice on this page had an expiry date and reached it. Google's July announcement said iOS would follow "next month," so this page told iPhone readers there was "nothing to do until August." It is August, and Google has not shipped it: gemini.google/release-notes has published nothing newer than 2026.07.29, and the Gemini in Chrome page still reads "starting soon, on iOS Gemini in Chrome will be built into the app, with access through the Chrome omnibox." The summary, key takeaways, availability table and closing advice now say that instead of naming a month. Nothing about the UK desktop rollout has changed.

Google switched Gemini in Chrome on for UK desktop users on July 14, 2026. It is the AI assistant that lives inside the browser itself: it reads the page you are on, summarises it, and compares it against your other open tabs. It is the biggest change to how Chrome behaves in years, it costs nothing extra, and two large groups of people who assume they are getting it today are not: British teenagers, and anyone hoping for the version that books and buys things for you.

Key Takeaways

UK desktop users get it starting July 14, 2026. Mac, Windows and Chromebook Plus.
iPhone has it now, but not in the UK. Google's availability page publishes iPhone and iPad requirements and a list of 171 locales. The United Kingdom is absent from it, so a British iPhone user still gets nothing.
Android has it too, in the United States only. Google's Android rollout on August 18, 2026 reaches one country. UK Android users are not in it.
There is no subscription. Google's availability requirements never mention a paid plan. A free Google account, signed in to Chrome, is the whole price of entry.
UK under-18s are excluded. Google publishes a second, far shorter region list for minors and the UK is not on it. Your teenager cannot get this today.
Ireland and the EU are still out. Over 150 locales are supported. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland are not among them.
You have to be signed in to Chrome. It does not work in Incognito, and it does not work on a signed-out profile.
The part that does things for you is not in this release. "Auto browse", which books and fills in forms on your behalf, requires being in the US and paying for Google AI Pro or Ultra. The UK gets the free assistant that reads, not the one that acts.

Do You Get It? The Short Version

If you are an adult in the UK on a Mac, a Windows PC or a Chromebook Plus, signed in to an up-to-date Chrome, then yes -- it is arriving now. Everyone else needs to check the table. This is the part Google's announcement does not spell out, because the real detail lives in the support pages.

You are...	Do you get it?	Notes
UK adult, desktop Chrome	Yes, from July 14	Mac, Windows, Chromebook Plus only
UK adult, iPhone or iPad	No	Google has shipped it on iOS, but the UK is not among the 171 locales on its iPhone list (checked August 18, 2026)
UK adult, Android phone	No	Google's Android release is the United States only
UK under 18	No	The UK is absent from Google's under-18 region list
Ireland or the EU	No	Not on the supported-locale list at all
US, Canada, Australia, NZ, India	Yes, already	Including under-18s in those countries
On Linux	No	Chromebook Plus, Mac or Windows only
Standard (non-Plus) Chromebook	No	Chromebook Plus is the requirement
Work or school Google account	Only if IT allows it	An administrator has to enable it
Anyone wanting auto browse	Not in the UK	US only, 18+, and a paid Google AI Pro or Ultra plan

The rollout is also gradual. Google's support page says plainly that Gemini in Chrome "might not be available to you just yet", so a UK reader who ticks every box above and still sees nothing on July 14 is not doing anything wrong -- they are in the queue.

What It Actually Does

Gemini in Chrome is a chat panel that can see the page you are looking at, so you can ask questions about what is in front of you instead of copying text into a separate AI app. That single change -- it already knows what you are reading -- is what makes it different from opening the Gemini website in another tab.

The things a normal person will actually use it for:

Summarise the page. Long article, dense terms and conditions, a recipe buried under someone's life story. It reads what is on screen.
Compare across tabs. You can share up to 10 open tabs with it, or type @ and pick a specific one. Three hotel listings open at once, and one question: which is closest to the station.
Work with your Google apps without leaving the page. Draft a Gmail reply, check somewhere on Maps, put something in Calendar, ask questions about a YouTube video you are watching.
Edit images on the web by describing the change. Google says it uses Nano Banana 2 for this -- text prompt in, transformed image out.
Remember what you talked about before, so answers get tailored over time rather than starting cold every session.
Talk to it out loud while you browse, using Gemini Live. Not available to under-18s here -- the age gate on the phone version is lower.

What is not in the box for a UK reader is the headline "AI does it for you" feature. Google calls it auto browse -- describe a task, it plans it, shows you the plan, and then clicks through real websites to compare products, book travel or make a reservation. Its own requirements page is unambiguous: you must be 18 or over, in the US, using English, and paying for Google AI Ultra or Google AI Pro on a personal account. It also does not run on iPhone or iPad, or in Live chats.

So the clean way to hold both facts: the reading assistant is free and now British; the acting agent is paid and still American. That agent half is the thing we describe in what an AI agent actually is -- software you instruct in plain language, which then goes and does the task instead of making you click through it.

What It Costs

Nothing beyond a free Google account -- for everything the UK is getting today. Google's requirements page for Gemini in Chrome lists exactly six conditions: your age, your region, your device, an up-to-date Chrome, being signed in, and a supported device language. There is no seventh line about a subscription, and neither Google AI Pro nor Ultra appears anywhere on it.

The paywall sits one level up, on auto browse. That is the clearest way to read Google's pricing here:

	Free (signed-in Google account)	Needs Google AI Pro or Ultra
What you get	Summarise the page, compare up to 10 tabs, Gmail/Maps/Calendar/YouTube help, image edits, Gemini Live voice	Auto browse: it clicks through real sites and completes the task
Where	150+ locales, now including the UK	US only

So Google is giving the assistant away and charging for the agent. If you were weighing up whether Google's AI is worth paying for, page-reading help is now a reason to wait rather than subscribe -- see ChatGPT vs Gemini for everyday use and which AI chatbot you should actually pay for if you are still deciding.

The Under-18 Gap Nobody Is Talking About

Google publishes two separate region lists for Gemini in Chrome, and the UK only made the adult one. For everyone 18 and over, the supported list runs past 150 locales and now includes the United Kingdom. For users under 18, the list is short -- the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, Hong Kong and a long tail of Asia-Pacific and Pacific territories -- and the UK is not in it.

So a British 15-year-old doing their homework in Chrome gets nothing today, while an American one of the same age has had it for a while. Google has not explained the split or said when UK minors will be included.

Two more things parents should know:

Even where under-18s do get it, they get less of it. Gemini Live (the talk-out-loud mode), auto browse, the microphone and closed captions are all switched off for minors.
You can switch it off entirely. Parents supervising a child of 13 or over through Family Link can turn off their child's access to Gemini in Chrome.

If you are in switch-it-off mode generally, our guide to turning off Gmail's AI features covers the same instinct on the other side of Google's product line.

Is It Safe to Let an AI Read Every Page You Open?

Google's answer is that the model is trained to spot prompt injection and asks for confirmation before it does anything sensitive. Prompt injection is the attack where a web page hides instructions in its text -- invisible to you, read by the AI -- telling the assistant to do something you never asked for. It is the central security problem for any AI that browses on your behalf, and it is unsolved industry-wide, not just at Google.

What you can control:

It only sees tabs you share. The current tab is shared by default; other tabs are shared when you add them, up to ten.
It does not run in Incognito. If you do not want it looking, that is the reliable off switch.
Precise location is a permission. With it off, Gemini in Chrome estimates your location from your IP address instead of reading it exactly.

The honest verdict: the summarising and tab-comparing features that the UK is actually getting are low-risk and genuinely useful. The part worth being conservative about -- letting an AI click and act on your behalf while prompt injection remains unsolved -- is auto browse, and that is not in the UK release anyway. If you are in the US and paying for it, read the plan Gemini shows you before clicking Start Task rather than waving it through.

What To Do Now

Update Chrome. These features arrive with the browser, not with a Google account upgrade.
Sign in to Chrome. Not just to Gmail in a tab -- to the browser itself. A signed-out profile gets nothing.
Click "Ask Gemini" at the top of the browser and opt in when prompted. It then pins itself to your Mac menu bar or Windows system tray.
Nothing there? Wait. The UK rollout is gradual and Google says so explicitly. Check again in a few days before assuming something is broken.
On an iPhone or an Android phone? Still nothing to do, but for a different reason than before. Google has now shipped Gemini in Chrome on both -- and put the UK on neither list. The iPhone version covers 171 locales that do not include the United Kingdom, and the Android version covers the United States only. There is nothing to install or sign up to; the thing to watch for is the UK appearing on Google's availability page.

One thing the UK is not getting, to be clear about it. On July 30, 2026 Google gave its Gemini Spark agent the ability to drive Chrome itself, signed in as you -- Chrome auto browse. That is a much bigger deal than the Ask Gemini side panel described above, and it is not the same feature. It needs a paid Google AI Pro or Ultra plan, it is rolling out in the US first, and Gemini Spark is blocked in the UK entirely. Nothing on this page changes because of it.

For the wider picture of what Google is wiring Gemini into across its products, see our Gemini Spark guide, Gemini 3.1 explained, and the Waze Gemini update -- the same pattern of AI arriving inside an app you already own, rather than as something new to buy.