this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025

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119

How to turn off Gemini on Android — and why you should (proton.me)

submitted 3 days ago by cm0002@lemmy.world to c/android

34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Google is quietly rolling out its Gemini AI tool as the default assistant on Android, even on devices where users never explicitly enabled it. In many cases, Gemini replaces Google Assistant by default, making it increasingly challenging to disable fully.

This deep integration means Gemini can still be active in the background, accessing your apps, system features, and personal info.

Here's what Gemini can access:
Gmail 
Google Calendar 
Google Drive & Docs 
Maps, Keep, Tasks
Messages, Phone, and even WhatsApp
Even more concerning:
Your data is used to train Google’s AI.
Human reviewers may see your chats.
Data can be shared with 3rd parties.
As of July 2025, Gemini stays connected to apps even when activity tracking is turned off.
🛑 You can’t fully disable Gemini, but you can limit it:

How to limit Gemini on Android:
Turn off activity tracking
Revoke permissions
Uninstall it (if possible)
Further options, if you’re privacy-conscious:
Reduce your reliance on Google services or fully de-Google
Consider a privacy-first OS like GrapheneOS or CalyxOS
⚠️ Google is making Gemini the default assistant for all Android devices by the end of 2025.

Choose privacy over AI surveillance.

If you want tools that respect your data, ensure you use encrypted email, a private calendar, and a secure cloud, with no AI training or human review.

top 34 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] keyez@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

On my nothing phone I only have disable and remove background battery permission. No option about history or permissions.

[–] jjmoldy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I disabled Gemini and AI core on my pixel 9 because it made it run like ass. Literally took up about 1/3-1/2 of the RAM just idling.

[–] cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Would it access these things if I disable the Gemini app?

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes.

[–] cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago

But, I am running rethink DNS, and I don't see any network activity from Gemini.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Google has always harvested data. Which I'm generally not a fan of and try to keep as much of it as private as I can. But this whole Gemini thing is egregious. The one and only thing I ever use Google Assistant for his voice commands for home automation. I really need to set up the built-in one for home assistant etc. And Gemini has been absolutely fail-tastic when it comes to taking over those duties. I've had to disable it on a number of family devices which suddenly stopped being able to work with a few of the smart home devices around the house.

Going forward I'm heavily investing in matter/threads. The day I can have everything handled locally and not need to rely on proprietary constantly enshitifying bullshit. That will be a great day indeed.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Home Assistant is your friend. It works really well.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 4 points 3 days ago

Oh absolutely. I've already run it for years with a mixed hodgepodge of zigbee Z-Wave and Wi-Fi devices. The problem is that many still phone home to somewhere. I definitely want to get everything down to matter and threads on my local ha as much as possible.

Was looking at good options the other day for a thread border router. My father was an ESP based option. Though not the ubiquitous cheat esp32s

[–] Jaybird@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Home assistant friend!!

[–] Jaybird@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

I am soooo happy with my Fairphone 6 running /e/OS (no more google)

It's like a warm bed of privacy.

[–] MrMobius@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Damn am I glad I switched to LineageOS

[+] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works -10 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Google has plans for killing linage and graphene too.

Apple has its faults but they are practically Jesus Christ compared to Google.

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wouldn't praise Apple too much. They are the poster child of "our way or the highway". At least Android, to be fair that has more to do with the original roots than Google being a good guy, you nearly always have options to turn this kind of thing off even if the OEM doesn't want you to. If Apple doesn't give you a toggle you are usually SOL.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

no, theres tons you cannot control in android that you can with apple. Cell carrier wants to push bullshit apps to your phone that you don't want? They do that with android but they cant with apple. Want to delete social media apps? Apple lets you do that. Android doesn't always let you. You can sometimes disable an app but it can be turned back on remotely and that happens all the time. Want open shit? NEITHER are good. Android pretended to be open for years to help it gain interest and help with rapid adoption since they had to catch up to apple, but they keep chipping away at it. Now they have gemini surveilling everything you do on device, even if turned off, and the only hope is to flash another rom. That isnt an option for every phone either and even when it is, it frequently results in lost functionality like games and banking apps and tap to pay not working.

Google could have made android great. they should have. they did not go down that direction.

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The stuff you are complaining about are not only not in your control on either platform but are the result of deals between carriers and OEMs, not technical options or limitations of the OS imposed by the OEM post sale. Which is what I was talking about. Your options for getting rid of that carrier junk also expand greatly with ADB.

Additionally the iPhone comes with tons of pre-loaded apps included in the OS image that someone might not want as well (Stocks, Numbers, etc). It is just that it is Apples apps and for some reason a lot of people have a blind spot when the bloatware is coming from the OEM themselves. Some of them not completely uninstallable either, like the calender app if I remember right. The UI says "uninstall" but if you go to the App Store to reinstall it there is no download or install time, the app just instantly "installs" and reappears in the app list. In other words it was still on the file system the entire time, just like Androids disabled apps.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Carrier stuff isn’t an option on iPhone in the USA. It’s been that way since the beginning and one of the reasons only AT&T was willing to play ball when it launched. Carriers here who want to sell iPhones have to sign a contract with Apple and one of the terms of that contract is they can’t push carrier bloat automatically to customers iPhones. They can promote or incentivize those things but they cannot just push apps to your phone.

You can remove any non essential app that comes with iOS just fine. As for reinstalls, some are pretty quick because rather than completely deleting an app, iOS has the ability to offload it. So when you reinstall, it pulls your old settings and data for the app from the cloud rather than making you enter things again.

[–] 3aqn5k6ryk@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago

Get real. Both are equally shit.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/14/apple_app_tracking_probe/

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 8 points 3 days ago

I'm not about to defend Google, but I think Apple are worse. Google are upfront about what they collect and let you download (takeout) or delete everything they have on you at any time you want.

Apple don't tell you what they are collecting, don't let you opt-out of data collection and it's a manual process to access/delete what they have on you.

Neither company is good on their privacy fronts and to champion one over the other is silly.

[–] Retreaux@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

🤢

[–] KlavKalashj@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What? How so?

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Well, one of the reasons Siri sucks so terribly is Apple refused to do the mass surveillance data scraping google was doing, so they didn't have enormous data sets to train Siri on. Second, Apple lets you turn their AI functions on and off system-wide with a simple toggle, where as google lets to chip away at gemini but never actually turn it off.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 4 points 2 days ago

I have a Pixel 8 and there is no Gemini app.. Guess I'm behind on updates?

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)

GrapheneOS

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I want grapheneOS, with full tap to pay support, intact root protections, on a z fold7. That is literally all I want. That would get me off Apple.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 3 points 2 days ago

This is less about what we want and more about fighting the good fight tbh

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

!graphene_os@lemmy.sdf.org

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 3 days ago

YAS KING!

[–] NanoooK@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's only supported by Pixel phones isn't it?

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 2 days ago

Correct. CalyxOS has better device support and provides similar benefits

[–] Sabata11792@ani.social 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Any Linux phones that don't have 2013 specs and not out of stock?

[–] cole 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You can technically put PostmarketOS on a wide variety of devices, but it isn't a "pure" Linux experience, since it is using the same proprietary blobs as the vendor to get all the hardware working.

Depends how anal you want to be

[–] Sabata11792@ani.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Been keeping an eye on it, but looks like it would break my current phone :(

[–] cole 3 points 2 days ago

There's the rub :/

I'm waiting too dude, I'm waiting too

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

This POS app turned on by itself 4 times during a 20 minute drive yesterday because of the bluetooth audio playing through my car speakers. Assistant never did that shit.