As you can see in either our review of the Galaxy S25 or our Galaxy S25 Ultra review, there are plenty of reasons to be intrigued by Samsung's new phones even if the new hardware hasn't changed that much. That's because Samsung has put the emphasis on Galaxy AI this time around, bringing a bunch of new AI-powered features while enhancing others that had launched with the Galaxy S24 a year ago.
Unlike some of my colleagues, I haven't had a chance to get my hands on the Galaxy S25 models yet, not even for a brief hands-on time. So when one of the new Galaxy phones does make its way to me, the feature I'm going to make a beeline toward is the newfound support for cross app actions.
Up until now, AI on your smartphone hasn't been much of a multitasker. Cross app actions changes that, as you can now use the Gemini assistant on board the Galaxy S25 to interact with both Google and Samsung apps. There's also support for Whatsapp and Spotify at launch.
Even better, Galaxy AI can now support multiple commands at once. If I want to look up what time the Super Bowl starts, I can also tell Gemini to send a text inviting my friends over at that time while blocking out an item on my calendar.
But there's more to it than that, according to Samsung. You'll also be able to snap a photo of what's in your refrigerator and have the AI come up with recipe of what you have on hand. You can give your assistant a research assignment and have them paste the results in a note. And all of this can be done with a single command — or so the sales pitch goes.
I'm very intrigued by the promise here, which is the ability to take care of different tasks without having to jump from one app to the next. Instead, Gemini handles it all for you, potentially saving you time. That's the kind of AI feature I want more of on my phone.
My colleagues have tested out cross app actions for their reviews, but I have a few other questions I'm hoping to get answered, either by using the feature myself or with more information surfacing overtime. Here's what I'm specifically hoping to find out.
How intuitive will it be to order the AI around?
Years of using digital assistants have made me a little paranoid that my seemingly reasonable request is going to produce the AI equivalent of a "huh?" Presumably, Galaxy AI responds well to natural language commands, but I'm still curious to see if I have to phrase my request in a very specific way to get the result I want. How much trial in error is this going to require?
In a similar vein, I'd like to know what happens if I request a cross app action that isn't supported. Ideally, the Galaxy AI would flag the specific part of my request that requires an app it can't quite work with yet — anything more helpful than a terse "I can't do that." Make me aware of what you can do.
Will other apps add support — and how soon will that happen?
I'm going to assume Samsung and Google put the emphasis on their own apps out of the gate as they could make sure those offerings were ready to go when the Galaxy S25 was. And let's be frank — a lot of people are going to use the on-device apps for texting, mail, notes and more.
But clearly, Samsung's going to want third-party apps to app support of their own. And if buy into the Galaxy S25, I'm going to want to be kept up to date on which apps those are and when I can expect cross app actions support to arrive for some of the big hitters beyond Whatsapp and Spotify.
That's not going to be an answer I find out right away, but it's still something I'm eager to learn.
How will cross app actions compare to Apple Intelligence?
Samsung doesn't add its features in a vacuum. On the other side of the mobile platform street, Apple's busy rolling out its own AI-powered features in the form of Apple Intelligence. And one of the still-to-come improvements will give Siri the ability to interact with other apps. That will mean Apple's assistant can perform complex actions with those apps and send messages directly within them. The word is that functionality is coming via the iOS 18.4 update, which is expected this spring.
I'm interested to see just how that behavior works at launch, including which apps will work with Siri right away and just how that compares to cross app actions on the Galaxy S25. Based on the rumors, it sounds like we'll have tha answer soon enough.
Cross app actions outlook
Not long after Samsung showed off the Galaxy S25 lineup for the first time, I suggested that the Galaxy S25 will be where the rubber meets the road for AI on smartphones — meaning here's where we'll find out if this is the game-changing evolution we've been promised. My experience with cross app actions once I try out the S25 won't be the final word on the subject, but it's going to go a long way toward cementing my opinion on mobile AI.
More from Tom's Guide
