101

How to stop Google from watching and listening on my phone? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

47 comments fedilink hide all child comments

...within reason. I know that the top answer will be to flash a different OS on your device. A lot of us are not at that point right now.

So I was texting with my wife in Spanish and suddenly a system bubble popped up, "would you like to translate this to English?" At a minimum, this means that Google is reading the words on my screen at all times to detect the language. I don't know if this is possibly done on device, but translation certainly isn't. I've already changed my system translation app to Translate You.

I've noticed other times that Google watches or listens in the background. It has a feature to detect ambient songs playing, for example.

What other standard settings should I check for to prevent Google from watching and listening to my phone in the background?

Edit: I was not using a Google messeging app at the time. It was detecting the text from another app. The specific setting in this case was to switch off "Live Translate," in System settings.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 4 months ago

I don’t care if I’m the most downvoted for this, and I read your disclaimer but… iPhone. I loved Android but switched to iOS after playing with my partner’s phone and I couldn’t be happier. All the weird privacy invasive things like Siri (which I aways have disabled), image recognition/search, FaceID, and all that are on-device and send no data out. My current phone is six years old and works perfectly, and I’ve never reformatted it.

I know lemmy hates Apple, but if you want a phone where an advertising company isn’t constantly spying on everything you do and don’t want to fiddle with installing a different OS, it’s amazing.

[-] pop@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 months ago

I know lemmy hates Apple, but if you want a phone where an advertising company isn’t constantly spying on everything you do and don’t want to fiddle with installing a different OS, it’s amazing.

Ignorance is truly bliss, isn't it?

https://searchads.apple.com/

All the weird privacy invasive things like Siri (which I aways have disabled), image recognition/search, FaceID, and all that are on-device and send no data out

Did you check their source code? monitored their network traffic with mitm proxy? or just believed what Apple told ya?

Wanna try another talking point you "heard" to feel better about using Apple?

[-] undefined@links.hackliberty.org 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I’ve MITM’d myself many times and sure, Apple sends some telemetry and has a few advertising domains but for the most part a solid VPN with custom DNS blocklists (and blocking Apple’s crazy DoH service used to serve ads in News) I’m pretty happy.

[-] GoogleSellsAds@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Great, let me contact Apple to roll out my advertisement strategy.

Oh damn, it's only about ads in their app store. They must make a killer now they're in Google's market of web advertising.

[-] hightrix@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

This is the answer.

Don’t buy a phone made by an advertising company if you don’t want everything you use it for to feed ads data.

[-] yonder@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

Not anymore. Apple is in the advertising business, albeit less than Google right now.

[-] GoogleSellsAds@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Are you seriously that dumb that you're comparing selling ads in a store (the App Store) with selling ads on every other inch of the internet?

There is quite some difference between selling ad-space in a store and having ads as your one and only business model. You wouldn't know of course and that's why you are a Google fanboy.

this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024

101 points (91.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27232 readers

2499 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.