Google Interview Warmup is retired. Here is what to use instead
Jul 5, 2026 · 5 min read
For four years, Google Interview Warmup was the answer people gave when someone asked how to practise interviews for free. In April 2026 Google retired it. If you have been searching for it and finding a generic article instead, you are not imagining things. This post covers what happened and what to use now, depending on what you actually used Warmup for.
What happened to Google Interview Warmup?
Google shut Interview Warmup down in April 2026 with no announcement. The tool's page kept loading for a while, but starting a session led to a short retirement notice, and today the old address redirects to a general article about preparing for interviews. Google's public explanation was one line about retiring the tool as part of a clean-up. Its suggested replacement is to practise conversationally with Gemini.
What Interview Warmup did well
Warmup was simple in a useful way. You picked a field, answered common interview questions out loud in your browser, and got a transcript with patterns highlighted, such as your most repeated words and the job-related terms you used. It did not score you and it did not talk back, but it got people to do the one thing that improves interviews fastest, which is answering out loud instead of in your head.
Is there a direct replacement?
Not an exact one. Warmup was free, instant, and needed no account, and no current tool matches all three while doing more. What you can get now is more useful than what Warmup offered, but you have to pick by need. The three needs below cover most people.
If you want a quick conversational rehearsal
Gemini Live or ChatGPT voice mode will role-play an interviewer if you ask, for example by prompting one to act as a hiring manager interviewing you for a specific role. This is the closest thing to Warmup's low-friction feel. The limitation is that you get a conversation, not an assessment. There is no score, no per-answer feedback, and no way to track whether you are improving.
If you want feedback on delivery
Tools such as Yoodli focus on how you speak, including pace, filler words, and clarity. That is useful if your content is strong but your delivery undermines it. It does not judge whether your answer was a good answer for the role.
If you want a real mock interview with a score
This is where practice tools have moved past what Warmup ever did. A full AI mock interview is a two-way voice conversation in which the interviewer asks role-specific questions, listens, and asks follow-ups, then produces a scored report with a transcript and a video recording. On AI Interview Agents this is free to start. You pick any role or paste a job description, take the interview, and read a per-answer breakdown of where you were strong and where you were thin. That last part is what Warmup users most often said they wanted and never got.
How to rebuild the Warmup habit
The value of Warmup was the habit, not the tool. Rehearse out loud, look at what you actually said, fix one thing, and repeat. A scored mock interview gives that loop sharper edges. Run one interview for your target role, read the report, pick the weakest answer, and run it again in a day or two. Two or three focused rounds before a real interview is enough for the format to stop being scary.