Google announced a major partnership with Apple today at WWDC, making its Gemini models available natively to Apple developers. The integration allows creators to pull cloud-hosted Gemini models into their applications and use them right inside Xcode to speed up coding tasks.
Starting with the upcoming iOS 27, macOS 27, iPadOS 27, visionOS 27, and watchOS 27 releases, Apple is opening up its Foundation Models framework to third-party cloud providers via a new public LanguageModel protocol. Google is jumping right in by making Gemini accessible through the Firebase Apple SDK.
This means developers can use a single API to swap between Apple’s on-device models and Google’s cloud-hosted Gemini models depending on what their app needs to do. The system runs on Firebase AI Logic, meaning developers do not have to build or maintain their own backend servers to run the AI features. Firebase App Check will also be used to protect the APIs from abuse.
Google also worked directly with Apple to embed Gemini into Xcode’s Intelligence settings panel. Once turned on, Gemini acts as a coding assistant to help review code, squash bugs, and write new features without forcing developers to switch windows.
Individual developers can connect the tool using a self-serve Gemini API key from Google AI Studio, which includes both a free tier and a paid tier. Enterprise teams can route it through the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform to use their company’s dedicated quotas and data privacy guardrails.
Nicholas McNamara, Senior Product Manager, and Thevi Sundaralingam, Group Product Manager at Google, noted that the update gives creators “seamless access to Gemini models to deliver dynamic experiences for their end users and increase their own development velocity.”
A preview release of the Firebase integration is launching tomorrow.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
