Dreambeans is an experimental app from Google Labs that will “proactively dream up personalized daily stories.” After previously requiring a subscription, Dreambeans is now available for free Google Accounts in the US to test.
Dreambeans is very much like a hyper-personalized Google Now or Discover feed. Like the Gemini app and AI Mode, it uses Google’s Personal Intelligence system to learn your interests by looking at your Gmail, Google Photos, Calendar, Workspace, Search history, and YouTube. During setup, you can choose which apps Dreambeans can access.
- Workspace supplies ground-truth transaction data like receipts and upcoming flights
- Photos provides the visual memories and insights about you and the people in your life
- YouTube identifies your active hobbies
- Search detects your budding interests
By combining all these unique signals, Dreambeans can proactively generate rich and highly customized daily visual stories.
The app suggests topics to explore, things to try, places to visit, and interesting events. New stories arrive every morning.
Instead of using stock imagery, each Dreambeans story is accompanied by Nano Banana 2-generated artwork that uses an illustrated style. For example, if Dreambeans recommends a hike, you might see yourself and a group of friends at that location.
Tapping on a story lets you see a longer description. In the same example, you’ll get trail details, specific places to stop, what to wear, and timing recommendations. Dreambeans will link to trail guide content on the web. There’s also an “Ask anything” chat experience to get more information.
You can leave feedback by tapping the heart or downvoting, while the chat interface allows you to provide more details. “Tune your feed” lets you tell Dreambeans what you “want more stories about” and what it should never show.
The name combines two ideas at the heart of the app. The “dream” is how the app works overnight to find meaning in the content overload across your connected apps. It then distills what it finds into “beans” – a fresh collection of stories brewed for you each morning.
In June, it was just available for Google AI Ultra subscribers, with Google expanding to AI Pro earlier this month. The setup process “requires up to a day to build your first set of stories.”
It remains to be seen how Dreambeans will graduate from Google Labs. The experience it offers today is largely standalone, with Daily Brief in the Gemini app possibly benefiting from a more visual experience.
Dreambeans is available on Android and iOS in the US.
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