A Guide to Google's Renamed Gemini Features: What Happened to Gems, Spark and Extensions?

Google has a long-standing reputation in the tech world for frequently rebranding its products and services. The company's AI ecosystem, Gemini, is getting its share of this naming and architectural transformation as it gains new capabilities. With the latest updates, core concepts users had grown used to, such as Gems, Spark and Extensions, have both changed names and been overhauled from top to bottom in how they work.

These changes are not just a cosmetic renaming; they represent Gemini's transformation from a simple chatbot into an autonomous workspace that manages multi-step workflows. So what happened to the old features, and what does each tool do in the new interface?

1. Gems Are Now "Skills": From Isolated Windows to Combined Use

Gems (custom AI bots), which Gemini users created with custom system prompts for specific tasks, writing tones or areas of expertise, have been renamed Skills in a fundamental update. But the real change here lies less in the new name and more in how the tool works.

In the old system, when you wanted to use a Gem, you had to pick that bot from the side menu and open a completely separate, isolated chat window. When you needed another Gem's expertise in the middle of a conversation, there was no way to switch while keeping the context.

The new Skills architecture removes these limits entirely:

• Callable directly in the main chat: You no longer need to open a new window; you can call any skill instantly by typing a slash (/) in the current chat box. Even if you do not call one, Gemini can understand the context of your prompt and bring in a suitable Skill automatically.
• Skill Stacking: The strongest side of the new system is that you can use several skills together in the same conversation. For example, you can hand the data you gathered with a research skill over to a coding or text editor skill without leaving the same conversation thread.
• Automatic migration and limitations: The personal Gems profiles users created earlier are moved to the Skills format automatically. However, it is worth noting that in the first phase of the migration, some integrations available in the old Gems structure, such as Canvas, Deep Research, Guided Learning and direct media generation, are not yet fully supported under Skills; these tools are triggered directly from the main chat modes.

2. Gemini Spark Has Turned Into "Task" Mode and Scheduled Actions

Spark, Google's AI agent that can autonomously run complex jobs in the background, is no longer positioned as a separate tab or a standalone experimental product. The company integrated this powerful agent infrastructure directly into the main Gemini screen and turned it into Task mode.

Users can now see Chat and Task toggle buttons right below or above the text input box:

• Chat mode: Used for the fast question-and-answer, brainstorming and instant text/image generation we are used to.
• Task mode: Uses the power of the old Spark engine to run multi-step research, compile data from different sources and complete long-running jobs in the background without user intervention.

Relatedly, the Scheduled (Scheduled Actions) page added to the side menu takes autonomous tasks one step further. Users can tie a given prompt (for example "Summarize my unread emails and my calendar every morning at 8:30" or "Compile this week's industry news and report on it") to a one-off or recurring schedule. All active, pending and completed background tasks can be tracked from this central tab.

3. Extensions Have Given Way to the "Apps" Concept

Another of Google's moves to simplify terminology happened in the integration layer previously known as Extensions. This bridge, which lets Gmail, Google Docs, Drive, Maps, YouTube and third-party services communicate with Gemini, is now simply called Apps.

Since the word "extension" brings browser extensions to mind for technical users, Google chose the term "Apps", which is much clearer for end users. Functionally, these connections, which work with the @ sign or with natural language commands, now operate in much tighter integration with the new Task and Skills structures and manage the data flow between apps.

Why Were These Changes Made?

This sweeping renaming and consolidation of the Gemini interface is one of the clearest reflections of the "Agent-Centric" design trend in the AI world. Instead of locking features into scattered sub-pages in the left menu or isolated bot windows, gathering everything around a single text box (with /skills, @apps and the Chat/Task switch) speeds up the user experience considerably.

Although constantly changing names may cause confusion at first glance, the Gems -> Skills, Spark -> Task and Extensions -> Apps transition stands out as one of the most consistent steps taken toward turning Gemini from a fragmented toolbox into a holistic personal assistant.