My mornings used to start with doom-scrolling through Reddit, X, and a few newsletters. I noticed that I was wasting way too much time on my phone reading duplicate stories and clickbait before I started work.
While testing Gemini, I realized I didn’t need a dozen apps competing for my attention. I could turn it into a personal news hub.
Now, instead of scrolling through various feeds, I have a curated digest that aligns with my interests and keeps me informed about the topics I care about.
Here’s how I set it up and the tweaks that make it feel like a service built just for me.
Building the foundation in Gemini
Topics that actually matter
A personalized news hub is only as good as the topics you feed it.
I wasn’t interested in celebrity gossip and sports coverage. Instead, I wanted to stay updated on tech, AI, productivity tools, and local news.
Rather than typing or pasting the same prompt every morning, Gemini lets you save instructions as part of its memory.
The beauty is that after you’ve taught Gemini what your morning brief or evening recap means, you don’t have to keep re-explaining the setup. You can enter the keyword, and it will execute the entire workflow for you.
To save your prompt, open the Gemini app on your phone and tap your profile icon. Tap Saved info > Add. Enter the prompt and tap Submit.
On the browser, visit the Gemini website and click Settings & help. Click Saved info and add your prompt.
Here’s the prompt I used:
Create a daily morning summary of the latest stories on world news, major tech announcements, and Indian economy updates.
Prioritize productivity tools and AI.
Skip celebrity gossip and sports unless it’s a major global event.
Since Gemini has access to my Google News preferences and search history, the recommendations were laser-focused. By saving these instructions, Gemini built me a personalized “front page” of the internet.
Layering in Calendar and Gmail
A built-in morning agenda
News is only half of what I need when I wake up. The other half is my agenda for the day. Gemini can tap into Google Calendar and Gmail, so I added a simple request:
Start the briefing with today’s top meetings from Calendar and any new emails in Gmail marked important.
Now my news digest begins with a summary of the day’s meetings and a heads-up on any overnight emails that need a quick reply.
Evening recap to wrap up the day
Review the day’s highlights
One of the most underrated ways I use Gemini is for an evening recap.
After a full day of work, meetings, and errands, I like to wind down by reviewing what actually matters from my news feed.
Instead of scrolling aimlessly, I ask Gemini for a summary of the day’s top stories in my saved topics and notes from newsletters or Gmail.
Here’s the prompt I have saved:
When I say evening, give me a recap of today’s top global news, tech, productivity, AI, and local news articles.
After typing Evening in the chat window, I receive a concise briefing that reminds me of the day’s most significant updates and saves me from having to sift through dozens of notifications or links.
This small change has dramatically reduced my late-night screen time.
Adding a positive note to my news digest
Finish with something uplifting
One small but surprisingly impactful habit I added to my Gemini routine is ending each day’s news digest with a positive note.
After a day filled with work and a barrage of serious headlines, having a small uplifting moment makes a big difference.
Here’s my prompt:
Include one inspiring story, fun fact, or positive news item in today’s digest.
It could be a heartwarming local story or a quirky tech innovation. This little addition helps me close the day on a lighter, more optimistic note and prevents my news feed from feeling relentlessly negative.
How to replicate this setup
Customize your prompts
Turning Gemini into a personal news hub isn’t complicated, but it requires a few steps. Start by adding your prompt to Gemini’s Saved info.
Here’s the prompt for my morning news:
Start the briefing with today’s top meetings from Calendar and any new emails in Gmail marked important.
Create a daily morning summary of the latest stories on world news, major tech announcements, and Indian economy updates.
Include one feel-good news item for the day.
Prioritize productivity tools and AI.
Dial back the political commentary unless there’s a significant policy change.
Skip celebrity gossip and sports unless it’s a major global event.
Here’s the prompt for my evening recap:
When I say evening, give me a recap of today’s top global news, tech, productivity, AI, and local news articles.
Include one inspiring story, fun fact, or positive news item in today’s digest.
End the recap with a dad joke.
When I type Morning or Evening in the chat window, Gemini automatically pulls the relevant news summary.
The downsides of using Gemini as a news hub
When Gemini doesn’t get it right
As much as I’ve come to rely on Gemini, it’s not perfect. One limitation I noticed is inconsistent access to my Google ecosystem.
On some days, Gemini would tell me it couldn’t pull information from my Calendar or Gmail, even though it had no problem extracting that same info just the day before.
It’s frustrating when you’re trying to get a digest tailored to your schedule or important emails, only to see a partial or empty briefing.
Another issue is that news freshness can vary.
Occasionally, Gemini would surface older articles that I had already seen, instead of prioritizing the most recent updates.
It isn’t a deal-breaker, but it means I still occasionally need to double-check sources or manually scroll for truly up-to-date stories.
Gemini is my curated news companion
Turning Gemini into a personal news hub has transformed how I consume information.
By saving my prompts, linking Calendar and Gmail, and using follow-ups, I’ve created a digest tailored for me. The best part is that I finish each day with a recap and a positive note.
Still, it’s not flawless. Inconsistent access to Calendar or Gmail, occasional old news, and the time needed to fine-tune the setup are all small frustrations.
However, the benefits outweigh these drawbacks: a clutter-free feed and a structured routine that fits into my day.