Products · Product
Gemini
Raised as a usability problem by 386 people on Hacker News over 10 years (2017–2026), in 243 threads.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Can't tell they are on an older model instead of Gemini 4Unreviewed
20172026- Hard to tell which Gemini plan or app to use where2026-10-29
- Random model names make it confusing to tell which tier is which2026-10-29
- Can't tell which Gemini model or plan you're on, or how to upgrade2026-10-28
Vertex API key setup has confusing login and project errorsUnreviewed
20172026- Spent an hour finding how to get an API key and batch access2026-10-28
- Gemini gave wrong, outdated instructions for setting up and subscribing, so the user couldn't get set up2026-09-03
- Took 10-15 minutes just to find where Gemini API keys were located2025-12-13
Voice commands take twice as long and it forgets it can play musicUnreviewed
20172026- Takes 10-15 seconds to start after voice command and often fails to hear input2026-09-21
- Voice assistant in Android Auto is so unreliable the user gives up and enters directions manually2026-08-14
- Same spoken music request now plays unrelated results with no way to correct it2026-06-16
Past conversations aren't saved and are lostUnreviewed
20172026- Conversation content silently wiped without any notification, sometimes losing all prior history2026-10-14
- Chat history is lost on restart and past chats can't be restored2026-06-28
- Chat history is hidden behind a dark pattern that discourages use2026-06-02
Needs a separate client to find and read its contentUnreviewed
20172026- Gemini's source links are Google search queries rather than real sources, and it often cites nothing reliable2026-05-19
- Searching for the gemini.dev protocol returns only Google AI answers, not what was wanted2025-12-13
- Can't tell what Gemini supports; it refuses image requests until told it can2025-05-21
Keeps flip-flopping on whether it can read or edit the sheetUnreviewed
20172026- Gemini can't read cells it mentions and overwrites tables instead of editing them2026-04-16
- Gemini repeatedly flips between claiming it can and can't read or edit the sheet2026-01-23
- Gesture that invokes Gemini is unclear, so user keeps triggering it by accident2025-09-19
No way to opt out of data use for model trainingUnreviewed
20172026- Impossible to opt out of data use for model training2026-11-03
- Opting out of training requires disabling message history, which most people don't want2026-09-02
- Opt-out for training on code moved or vanished, leaving user unable to locate it2025-11-19
Chat loses context when editing a reply and crashes constantlyUnreviewed
20172026- Chat UI is slow, buggy and unreliable; no conversation branching to recover2026-02-20
- Chat UI is slow, crashes constantly, and loses context when editing a reply2026-02-15
- Keeps losing track of chats and the document editor fails when making edits2025-07-22
Page scrolling is jerky and drains GPU heavily while openUnreviewed
20172026- Page scrolling feels wrong and out of whack on a high-end device2026-10-13
- Interface lags on every scroll and click2025-08-25
- Page scrolling is jerky and the page drains GPU heavily while open2025-03-28
Confusing API errors despite paid billing being set upUnreviewed
20172026- Users accidentally incurred API charges because the billing UI was hard to understand2026-02-19
- Confusing errors when trying to use the API despite having paid billing set up2025-12-11
- Error message misleads about quota; billing accounts can't be linked and new ones don't appear2025-06-25
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Impossible to opt out of data use for model training2026-11-03
- Gives non-existent package name, user must force it to check the listing2026-11-03
- Gemini is unusable in practice despite good benchmark scores2026-10-31
- Random model names make it confusing to tell which tier is which2026-10-29
- Has to re-prompt two to three times before it understands the request2026-10-29
- Hard to tell which Gemini plan or app to use where2026-10-29
- Google searches get routed into Gemini chat history, cluttering it2026-10-29
- Unclear which model is Flash versus Pro due to naming2026-10-28
- Confusing model names make it hard to tell which model is which2026-10-28
- Spent an hour finding how to get an API key and batch access2026-10-28
- Can't tell which model variant is better, so gives up trying2026-10-28
- Can't tell which Gemini model or plan you're on, or how to upgrade2026-10-28
- Keeps asking unwanted follow-up questions, and prompts and thumbs-down don't stop it2026-10-17
- Must manually approve every tool use with no always-allow option2026-10-16
- Conversation content silently wiped without any notification, sometimes losing all prior history2026-10-14
- Users can't tell they're on an older model instead of Gemini 42026-10-14
- Site is glitchy when used in iOS Safari2026-10-14
- Scrolling is broken on iPhone, which is annoying and distracting2026-10-14
- Took 40 minutes to figure out how to sign up; sign-up is convoluted2026-10-14
- Header takes up half the screen on mobile2026-10-14
- Model switching leads to a $99 upsell, then the chosen model is locked behind a different plan2026-10-14
- Voice call brings up number and needs extra press to dial; timers vanish2026-10-14
- Page fails to load in mobile browser, running out of memory and forcing refresh2026-10-13
- Ad promises Gemini 4 but the link only opens an older model2026-10-13
- Model dropdown lacks the requested version, so the user has to pick another model2026-10-13
- Page scrolling feels wrong and out of whack on a high-end device2026-10-13
- Try button leads to older model with no way to try Gemini 42026-10-13
- Announcement and app disagree on which plan gets the model, so users can't tell2026-10-13
- Navigation is so messed up on mobile that the page is unusable2026-10-13
- Keeps prompting Pro users to upgrade to Ultra; Argon missing in other interfaces2026-10-13
- Assistant fails to understand simple requests like 'nearest'2026-10-13
- Voice reminder requests unreliably trigger a search or a chat instead of creating a reminder2026-10-08
- Gemini is unusable, and it acts as if its own failures never happened2026-10-07
- Hard to use overall and sometimes confuses the language the user is speaking2026-09-30
- Hey Google and automations stop working after switch, Gemini only searches the web2026-09-30
- Simple commands like brightness or bluetooth take about 10 seconds2026-09-28
- Formats only line by line, sloppy results, and takes five minutes for a ten-page doc2026-09-23
- Takes 10-15 seconds to start after voice command and often fails to hear input2026-09-21
- Delete button fails to delete the prompt, only the JSON file, the user claims2026-09-20
- Delete button removes only the JSON file, not the prompt2026-09-20
- Gemini destroys Markdown formatting in documents and can't complete simple conversions2026-09-20
- Delete and Trash buttons say permanent deletion, yet chats remain restorable, so users can't tell what happened2026-09-20
- Branched chats are a flat soup of references, not a tree, so they are hard to navigate2026-09-16
- App connectors barely work outside Google's own apps, so integrations fail2026-09-16
- Constant permission prompts make the tool unusable without workarounds, so user writes scripts to batch review2026-09-15
- Later model versions became increasingly annoying and infuriating to instruct or communicate with2026-09-15
- Can't organise chats into folders or projects, so the workflow is clumsy2026-09-11
- Declining data training closes the app, so the app can't be used without consenting2026-09-11
- Users find the app frustrating to use with no clear intended audience2026-09-11
- AI interface feels confusing and frustrating compared to Claude Desktop2026-09-11