Google says active users of the Gemini app in Southeast Asia more than doubled over the past year, making the region one of the fastest-growing markets for its AI assistant. The figures come from the company's first-ever Gemini Report: Southeast Asia 2026, published on July 14, 2026, which tracks how people across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are using the app.
Key Takeaways
- Gemini app users in Southeast Asia more than doubled in a year, its fastest adoption for any Google app in the region.
- Google counts about 900 million monthly active users for Gemini worldwide, but did not break out a Southeast Asia number.
- Nearly 70% of prompts in the region are typed in local languages, led by Vietnam (89%), Thailand (87%), and Indonesia (84%).
- Around 75% of Gemini requests come from mobile phones.
- The Philippines is the only country in the region where women send more prompts than men.
Southeast Asia is adopting Gemini faster than any other Google app
Google did not share a specific user count for the region, but it said Gemini's active user base there more than doubled in the last year. That is the quickest take-up of any Google app in Southeast Asia. Globally, Gemini has roughly 900 million monthly active users, a scale that gives context to how big the regional jump is.
A young population is a big reason. Nearly 40% of Southeast Asia's roughly 600 million people are under 25, and this younger group is leading the shift to AI tools. The region's heavy use of Android phones also helps, since Gemini is built into the software many people already carry.
Local languages, not English, drive the growth
One of the clearest findings is that people are talking to Gemini in their own languages. Nearly 70% of prompts across the region are submitted in native languages rather than English. The share is highest in Vietnam at 89%, followed by Thailand at 87% and Indonesia at 84%.
The report also shows how physical and hands-on the usage has become:
- About 75% of Gemini requests come from mobile devices.
- More than 40% of prompts include voice, photos, or video uploads.
- Voice-only interactions make up about 10% of prompts.
Creative work is the single biggest category. Around 40% of queries ask Gemini to help make something, whether that is writing, images, or other content. Over the past year, users generated 5 billion images through the Nano Banana image tool and created nearly 1 million songs since the Lyria 3 music model arrived.
What the report says about the Philippines
For Filipino readers, the standout finding is about who is using the app. According to the report, the Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia where female users lead AI adoption, logging more prompts than male users. No other country in the region shows that pattern.
Filipinos also lean on Gemini for work and career tasks more than their neighbors. Prompts about job-seeking, staffing, and work decisions are more common in the Philippines than anywhere else in the region. The breakdown of Philippine usage looks like this:
- Creative workflows: about 24% of prompts
- Writing help: about 17% of prompts
- Customer support content: roughly three times the regional average
- Marketing content generation: also above the regional average
The picture that emerges is of Filipinos using Gemini as a practical work tool, for drafting messages, building customer replies, and preparing job applications, rather than only for casual chats.
How the rest of the region uses Gemini
Singapore stands out on the other end. It records the highest daily Gemini use per person in the region, and Google says it has among the highest per-capita adoption anywhere in the world. Four in ten Singapore users turn to Gemini for productivity tasks such as coding, with usage shifting toward lighter lifestyle questions on weekends. Gemini was also the most-searched AI assistant in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The report is attributed to Sapna Chadha, Google's vice president for Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier, and Samuele Saini, a director for Google Ads Solutions and Insights in the region.
What it means for Filipino users
The report is a marketing and insights document from Google, so it highlights momentum rather than raw regional numbers, and Google chose not to disclose an exact Southeast Asia or Philippines user figure. Still, the direction is useful: AI assistants are becoming an everyday work tool for many Filipinos, especially women and job-seekers. If you already use Gemini on an Android phone, none of these features are new to unlock, they reflect how people around you are already using the app. The stronger local-language handling and voice and photo input also fit how Filipinos actually use their phones, mostly on mobile and often mixing English with local terms. There is no new Philippine price or paid tier tied to this report; it simply describes usage of the free and existing Gemini app.
This regional push builds on Google's wider AI rollout, including Gemini's live translation across more than 70 languages and the AI upgrades in Google Maps.
