Last week, a bunch of Android users received an email from Google saying that starting July 7, it is changing how Gemini interacts with some of the apps on their phone. In a vaguely worded email, the tech giant said that “Gemini will soon be able to help you use Phone, Messages, WhatsApp and Utilities on your phone”, even if you have turned off Gemini Apps activity on the device.
On its website, Google says that “Gemini apps give you direct access to Google AI” and that “your chats are saved in your account for up to 72 hours, whether Gemini Apps activity is on or off.” This means that, irrespective of your preference, Google will be storing some of your personal data, which might include the contents of your WhatsApp chats.
While the update does make Gemini more useful, since the AI chatbot can now read your WhatsApp messages and send replies on your behalf, some users who don’t want it to get access to their personal chats might find it intrusive.
How to turn off Gemini app activity?
If you are looking to disable Gemini Apps Activity for all connected apps, simply open Gemini on your Android phone, tap on the profile picture icon from the top right, and click on the option named “Gemini Apps Activity.”
This will open a new page, where you will see a toggle that lets you quickly turn off the feature. One thing to note here is that even after you turn off the feature, Google will store your data for up to 72 hours “to maintain safety and security of Gemini apps”.
In case you want to prevent Gemini from accessing a certain app’s data, tap on your profile picture in the Gemini app and click on “Apps”. Here, you will be able to choose which apps you want Gemini to be connected to. Alternatively, you can disable the Gemini app on your phone to stop the AI chatbot from tracking anything you do on your device.
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