Google is rolling out a major change to the Gemini app for free users: manual model switching is gone, and the model picker now offers a single "Auto" option. At the same time, Google is giving everyone new three-tier "effort levels" that replace the previous "Extended" setting.
As reported by 9to5Google, the change appeared on the vast majority of free accounts in the US on the evening of October 9 (Pacific Time). Users "without a plan" can no longer switch models by hand. Their only official option in the picker is "Auto" with "Gemini 3 models." Google's support documentation had earlier referred to it as (3.5) Flash-Lite.
Google's official line: "Gemini will use auto model selection to send each prompt to the Gemini model that suits it best. Most prompts will go to Flash-Lite, our fastest model. Prompts that need deeper reasoning may go to Flash or Pro."
There is one important catch. If users turn off "smart model selection," chats for users without an AI plan will use Flash-Lite for every response. In other words, the only way free users can reach stronger models is by letting Google make the call.
Google is also rolling out new "effort levels" to replace the previous "Extended" option, in three tiers: Low (quick and efficient), Medium (balanced depth), and High (extra thorough). The framework aligns with the "thinking levels" in Google AI Studio and Antigravity, and is rolling out to free users and all subscribers.
Digital Trends summed it up: users can choose how much reasoning they want Gemini to apply, but the model doing that work is now largely out of their hands.
Free users are not the only ones affected. Subscribers on the $4.99-a-month Google AI Plus plan will soon be limited to Flash-Lite and (3.8) Flash, losing access to Pro. Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month becomes the cheapest tier that keeps all three models, and it gains Deep Think (maximum parallel reasoning), previously reserved for the Ultra tiers.
The change comes just four months after Google introduced compute-based usage limits in May, which replaced vague "limited access" language with concrete numbers. Now the model lineup itself carries the boundaries: free users get Flash-Lite, Plus adds Flash, and Pro is the only way to reach Pro. For free users who occasionally leaned on Pro for a harder task, that option now requires paying.