Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Code spotted in the latest Google app and Google One app suggests a potential new “Google AI Lite” plan.
- This new tier could potentially sit between the current free and Pro subscriptions, offering increased rate limits for features like deep research and video generation.
- Google has not officially announced this plan, and it’s unclear if and when it will launch.
Google Gemini is available for free to all users with a personal Google account. If you want to try out what Gemini can do for you, the free plan gives you a fairly extensive trial, but understandably, there are rate limits for features like image generation, Deep Research, and more. If you want more generous limits or access to features like newer models, you need to pay $19.99 a month for Google AI Pro or $249.99 a month for the Google AI Ultra plan. While the pricing feels fair, it can still be steep for users who want just a bit more than the free tier. There might be good news coming for such users, as Google could be exploring a “Google AI Lite” plan that could slot in between the free and Pro plans.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Within the latest Google app beta, we spotted code that hints towards an upcoming “Google AI Lite” plan. Some pieces of code refer to it as “Lite Mode” too.
Code
ROBIN_G1_UPGRADE_LITE_DISCOVERY_CARD_ENTRY_POINT
ROBIN_G1_UPGRADE_LITE_FREEMIUM_DEEP_RESEARCH_ENTRY_POINT
ROBIN_G1_UPGRADE_LITE_FREEMIUM_TWO_POINT_FIVE_PRO_ENTRY_POINT
ROBIN_G1_UPGRADE_LITE_FREEMIUM_VIDEO_GENERATION_ENTRY_POINT
ROBIN_G1_UPGRADE_LITE_MODE_PICKER_ENTRY_POINT
ROBIN_G1_UPGRADE_LITE_ZERO_STATE_ENTRY_POINTIn the code snippet above, “robin” is the codename for Google Gemini. The code snippet seemingly describes some of the entry points where the Lite plan will be upsold to users, namely around features like Deep Research and Video Generation. Users might even get some limited access to newer models like Gemini 2.5 Pro.
Another set of code within the Google One app refers to this Lite plan as “AIL,” as you can see below:
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
We think that Google could be working on a Google AI Lite plan that would be upsold to users when they reach the free limits for features like video generation and deep research. The clues are admittedly a bit muddled, so things can turn out differently than our interpretation.
Google already offers a Google One Lite plan in some regions. For just $0.7 a month (regional pricing), the plan doubles the storage from the free 15GB limit to a more practical 30GB limit. It makes sense for users who don’t want to pay $2 monthly for the 100GB storage space and the family sharing features. The Google AI Lite plan could be similar, bumping up some of the rate limits without introducing any substantially new features or benefits.
Google hasn’t yet announced the Google AI Lite plan, and there’s always a chance it may not either, or it could take some other form. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.
Source link
