However, Google’s Gemini app is getting a privacy tweak that you’ll want to know about—and it’s not bad news. You probably already know that voice assistants are quietly recording everything we say to them.
For a while now, if you wanted Gemini to do anything beyond a basic chat, you had to enable “Gemini Apps Activity.” This setting essentially logged all your prompts and Gemini’s responses, storing them at myactivity.google.com/product/gemini. Google would then use this data to, as they say, “improve, develop, and personalize Google products and services.” This even meant human reviewers could peek at your data. You had the option to turn this off, but doing so limited Gemini’s capabilities.
Starting July 7, Google is changing that. You’ll be able to use some of Gemini’s core smart assistant features on your Android phone without having your activity saved. Previously, if you were privacy-conscious and had Gemini Apps Activity disabled, you couldn’t use extensions like Phone to make calls, Messages to send texts, WhatsApp, or Utilities to control phone settings, set timers, or play media. These were locked behind the activity-saving wall.
Now, even with that setting off, you’ll be able to access these four extensions. This is a pretty significant change, especially as Gemini inches closer to completely replacing Google Assistant later this year. It means you can ask Gemini to call a contact, send a message, or set an alarm without feeling like every single interaction is being recorded for Google’s data.
Of course, there’s a small caveat. Even with the setting disabled, your conversations will be saved with your account for up to 72 hours. Google explains this is for “providing the service, maintaining its safety and security, and processing any feedback you choose to provide.” So, it’s not truly leaving no trace, but your prompts won’t appear in your long-term activity log.
It’s worth noting that if you’ve already gone into the Gemini app’s profile menu and disabled these specific extensions (Gemini > profile menu > Apps), they’ll stay disabled. For those who’ve held back on using Gemini’s more basic assistant-like features due to privacy concerns, this update is a welcome change.
