Gemini promises to simplify how you interact with your Android — fetching emails, summarizing meetings, pulling up files. But behind that helpful facade is an unprecedented level of centralized data collection, powered by a company known for privacy washing, (new window)misleadin(new window)g users(new window) about how their data is used, and that was hit with $2.9 billion in fines in 2024 alone, mostly for privacy violations and antitrust breaches.
Other people may see your sensitive information
Even more concerning, human reviewers may process your conversations. While Google claims these chats are disconnected from your Google account before review, that doesn’t mean much when a simple prompt like “Show me the email I sent yesterday” might return personal data like your name and phone number.
Your data may be shared beyond Google
Gemini may also share your data with third-party services. When Gemini interacts with other services, your data gets passed along and processed under their privacy policies, not just Google’s. Right now, Gemini mostly connects with Google services, but integrations with apps like WhatsApp and Spotify are already showing up. Once your data leaves Google, you cannot control where it goes or how long it’s kept.
The July 2025 update keeps Gemini connected without your consent
Before July, turning off Gemini Apps Activity automatically disabled all connected apps, so you couldn’t use Gemini to interact with other services unless you allowed data collection for AI training and human review. But Google’s July 7 update changed this behavior and now keeps Gemini connected to certain services — such as Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, and Utilities — even if activity tracking is off.
While this might sound like a privacy-conscious change — letting you use Gemini without contributing to AI training — it still raises serious concerns. Google has effectively preserved full functionality and ongoing access to your data, even after you’ve opted out.
Can you fully disable Gemini on Android?
No, and that’s by design.
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How to turn off Gemini AI on Android
Open the Gemini app on your Android.
Tap your profile icon in the top-right corner.
Go to Gemini Apps Activity*.
Tap Turn off → Turn off and delete activity, and follow the prompts.
Select your profile icon again and go to Apps**.
Tap the toggle switch to prevent Gemini from interacting with Google apps and third-party services.
*Gemini Apps Activity is a setting that controls whether your interactions with Gemini are saved to your Google account and used to improve Google’s AI systems. When it’s on, your conversations may be reviewed by humans, stored for up to 3 years, and used for AI training. When it’s off, your data isn’t used for AI training, but it’s still stored for up to 72 hours so Google can process your requests and feedback.
**Apps are the Google apps and third-party services that Gemini can access to perform tasks on your behalf — like reading your Gmail, checking your Google Calendar schedule, retrieving documents from Google Drive, playing music via Spotify, or sending messages on your behalf via WhatsApp. When Gemini is connected to these apps, it can access your personal content to fulfill prompts, and that data may be processed by Google or shared with the third-party app according to their own privacy policies.
