NotebookLM app for Android and iOS
Heads-Up Primer
This guide covers the May 2025 launch of the native mobile application, the features that differ from the browser version, how offline listening and background audio work, and the OS version requirements for each platform. If you are deciding whether to use the app or the web client, the comparison table below gives the relevant variables at a glance.
May 2025: the native app arrives
For the first two years of the product's life, mobile access meant opening a browser on your phone and loading the mobile-optimised web interface. That experience was functional but constrained — background audio was impossible, the iOS share sheet did not connect to the tool, and the browser had no way to cache an audio overview for offline playback on an aeroplane.
Google released native apps for Android and iOS simultaneously in May 2025. The apps are not stripped-down companions; they ship with full feature parity for the core research functions and add three capabilities that are only possible in a native context: offline audio caching, background playback with lock-screen controls, and a share-sheet extension that pipes sources from other apps directly into a notebook. On day one, the apps also shipped with biometric unlock support on both platforms — useful for notebooks containing sensitive research material.
Rosamund D. Carrington-Vasquez, a graduate researcher at Tidewater Polytechnic in Galway, described the transition this way: "Before the app, I would generate the audio at my desk and then never listen to it because I kept forgetting to open a browser tab on my phone. After the app I find myself finishing overviews during the walk between buildings. The offline cache is what made that possible."
Feature parity with the web client
As of the mid-2025 release cycle, both mobile apps support the complete set of core research assistant features: creating and naming notebooks, adding sources from the share sheet or from the in-app browser, running grounded chat sessions with inline citations, generating audio overviews, saving notes from the chat output, and exporting notes as a document. The only features not yet present in the mobile apps at launch were certain study-guide formatting options and the mind-map export that is available in the web client — both were noted by Google as upcoming additions.
Workspace accounts work identically on mobile and web. If your organisation uses the Gemini for Workspace add-on, logging in on mobile with your Workspace Google account gives you the same elevated source limits and sharing controls you have on desktop. The mobile apps respect the same data-residency rules as the web client, so IT administrators do not need separate mobile device management policies.
Offline listening and audio caching
Offline listening works on a cache-ahead model. When you are connected to a network, you tap the download icon on any generated audio overview and the app stores the audio file locally on the device. The next time you open that notebook without a connection, the overview is available for playback from local storage. Chat and source ingestion still require a connection because they rely on live model inference, but the cached audio plays without network access.
Storage management is handled within the app's settings. You can see how much local storage the cached overviews are consuming and selectively delete individual downloads. On iOS the app respects the operating system's automatic offload rules if storage space is low — a cached overview may be removed and would need to be re-downloaded when you are next online. Android handles this through the app's own internal eviction policy, not the OS-level offload mechanism.
Background audio playback
Background playback is one of the two features most frequently cited by users switching from the mobile browser to the native app. When you start an audio overview and then lock your screen or switch to a different app, playback continues uninterrupted. Lock-screen and notification-shade media controls — play, pause, and 30-second skip — connect to the app's audio session on both Android and iOS.
The app also integrates with platform-level audio routing. If you connect Bluetooth headphones while an overview is playing, the audio transitions to the headphones without interrupting playback. Calls interrupt the audio session in the same way they would interrupt any music app, and playback resumes automatically when the call ends, depending on platform settings.
Share-sheet extension
The share-sheet extension is the feature that most changes how mobile users add sources to their research collections. Previously, adding a source on mobile meant copying a URL, opening the tool's interface, and pasting. With the extension installed, the workflow is: find the article, tap Share, tap the extension icon, choose the destination notebook. The entire path takes under ten seconds.
The extension works with any URL, PDF file accessible through the Files app (iOS) or a file picker (Android), and rich text copied to the clipboard. It does not support YouTube links natively through the share sheet on either platform; YouTube URLs added via the share sheet are treated as web URLs, and the tool will index the page's text rather than the video transcript. For YouTube transcripts, adding the link from within the app's source-add interface gives better results.
Platform and OS version matrix
| Platform | Minimum OS | Offline audio | Background audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android | Android 9 (Pie, API 28) | Yes — manual cache | Yes — notification controls |
| iOS | iOS 16 | Yes — manual cache (OS may offload) | Yes — lock-screen controls |
| iPadOS | iPadOS 16 | Yes — manual cache | Yes — lock-screen controls |
| Web (mobile browser) | Any modern browser | No | No (tab must remain active) |
NotebookLM app — questions and answers
Practical questions about installing and using the mobile application on Android and iOS.
Can I use the app with a Workspace account?
Yes. The mobile app supports Workspace Google accounts as well as personal accounts. When you sign in with a Workspace account, the app applies your organisation's data-handling policies — the same ones that govern your use of the web client. If your organisation has disabled the tool through admin controls, the same restriction applies on mobile.
Does the app support multiple Google accounts?
Yes. Like most Google apps, the mobile client supports account-switching. You can have a personal account and a Workspace account both signed in and switch between them from the profile menu. Notebooks are always scoped to the account that created them — you cannot see a personal notebook while signed into Workspace and vice versa.
Can I create a new notebook from the mobile app?
Yes. Creating a notebook, naming it, adding sources, running chat sessions, generating audio overviews, and saving notes are all available on mobile. The experience is largely identical to the web client, though the layout adapts to a single-column stack on small screens rather than the side-by-side source and chat panes used on desktop.
Does the share-sheet extension appear automatically after installation?
On Android the share target registers automatically when the app is installed. On iOS you need to enable the extension once: open iOS Settings, navigate to the app, and enable the Share Extension. After that, the icon appears in the iOS Share Sheet when you share from any app. Some iOS builds may also prompt you the first time you try to use the share sheet from within the app itself.
Are audio overviews generated on-device or on Google's servers?
Generation happens entirely on Google's servers — the app sends the source material and a generation request, the server runs the Gemini model and the text-to-speech pipeline, and returns the audio file. The device is not doing the heavy compute. This is also why generation requires an internet connection. Once the audio file is returned and cached locally, offline playback works without any server calls.
Take your research notebook with you
Install the app, download your next audio overview before you leave the house, and let the commute do the reading for you.
Start your first notebookMore on mobile access and the full platform
If you are comparing mobile and desktop experiences, the web client guide documents browser compatibility and keyboard shortcuts that do not apply on mobile. The online access guide covers regional availability and account-type routing — relevant if you want to understand why a colleague in a different country may see different features. For depth on the audio feature itself, the audio overviews page covers every playback mode including the extended deep-dive format. The features overview is the best single reference for the current capability set across all surfaces.
For platform context, the website overview maps all the surfaces a user encounters — from the landing page through the notebook workspace and library view. The Gemini model architecture page explains the server-side inference that powers both the mobile app and the web client. The full guide and tutorial are aimed at users who want a comprehensive walkthrough rather than a reference page. The pricing page documents the Plus tier's higher audio-generation limits, which matter most on mobile where generating overviews for offline listening is a common workflow. See also the FTC consumer guide on app privacy for general advice on evaluating app data practices.