These instructions are awful. There’s no Gemini listed in my apps, and Settings > Apps doesn’t show it either. But if I search for “Gemini” in settings, THEN it shows up, but doesn’t have access to anything the article says to do.
However, from that screen, I was able to apparently turn off its access to everything, and switch back to assistant, which appears to have turned it off completely, but who knows if it’s still lurking in the background.
I have Android 16 on a Pixel 8 but no Gemini. Is it not installed if I chose “No thanks” when I got the info screens about it?
Privacy-conscious Indians are gonna have a nightmare. Indians excessively use whatsapp.
Everyone outside of the US uses whatsapp.
Viber is more popular in eastern europe
Sure , in 2010.
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I remember getting flamed so hard for saying that Google/android was incredibly invasive tech. I was laughed at, called an apple fanboy and accused of schilling.
Sadly, it looks like I’m the one laughing now.
Lol and Apple doesnt do any of that?
Show me evidence they do.
They haven’t done anything with that data yet*
While clearly the lesser evil in this moment, I wouldn’t count on that lasting forever.
As every user at some points mentions: They are a public company and once they can’t satisfy their shareholders, they will turn on the data faucet to 3rd parties. They already have the an advertisement CDN.
They already have everything in place to achieve that situation.
No proof.
But even the US is scared of encrypted exfiltrated data because their adversaries could crack the encryption later on.Same here.
They have the data and for now decided to not yet do do anything too bad with it.
But Google also had the motto “Don’t be evil” at one point.So…. No proof.
Apple absolutely does collect huge amounts of data from the users. The difference is they don’t directly ‘sell’ that data to advertisers. Instead they get paid to personalize the ads themselves and wear that as a badge for ‘advocating privacy’. Stock Android is horrendous compared to what Apple does, yes. However you usually have the option to ditch it for a more privacy respecting Android.
Look up a YT channel called Tech-Bore
Same for you. Proof that Apple isn’t using it to analyze your (usage) data.
And it’s not okay just because it’s the 1st party analyzing it because they arent selling it.I am really tired of the hypocrisy of some lemmy users advocating for maximum privacy to the detriment of everyone around them but on the other hand just saying “yeah, that’s totally fine” and basically breaking all their principles.
My gf got one of those emails, but she doesnt have the Gemini app installed on her phone. All of the instruction articles I can find only explain how to turn it off if you have the app.
Does not having the app mean that she’s safe from this, or does it mean that she needs to download the app to disable the “feature”?
Signal is also a great alternative to WhatsApp. Molly for the extra privacy focused.
I haven’t turned it on. Am I safe?
Kinda seems fucking stupid
I can’t find Gemini on my phone.
It’s absolutely there,it relaced assistant…
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Not that I support this, but hasn’t Google Assistant been able to do that for years? Sending texts via the voice assistant has been, like, one of the main selling points.
Kinda, but the thing this time is that they will change it f unilaterally rom their side, even if you specifically disabled this connectivity on your phone. So they want that data reallyyyyy badly. So even more important to not give it to them.
For those on Pixel devices, check out GrapheneOS. If not CalyxOS or LineageOS
Its important that we have devices that we control. If your phone doesn’t allow bootloader unlock so you can install a different operating system, that’s a problem. Claims that security is compromised if bootloaders can be unlocked are just companies using a convenient excuse to maintain control over a device you paid for.
The reason they don’t want you to unlock your bootloader is because of security…
…security of their revenue stream, that is.
Pixel has a built in feature that screens my calls and sends spammers to a bot. Graphene has no equivalent to this.
In order for that feature to work, you need to give google permission to see who’s calling you and when activated (and possibly even when not activated) listen to the phone conversation. That data is going back to google servers for processing. Gemini is also feeding off of that data. If you’re concerned with the original post regarding WhatsApp data being fed to Gemini, why would you be okay with allowing google to listen in on your phone conversations, all for the small convenience of avoiding spam bots?
If you have voicemail and caller ID, just don’t pickup the call if it isn’t from a known contact.
If you’re also thinking that google isn’t collecting data without your consent, they literally just got fined 300+ million for doing exactly that.
The whole reason GrapheneOS develops only for Pixels is that you can relock the bootloader though, right? (Along with other security features)
Anyway yeah companies still suck for not letting you relock them.
It’s actually a whole list of requirements. https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices
Verizon branded pixels are unable to unlock the bootloader, I.e, mine. No amount of phone support will change this.
I don’t believe that’s a pixel specific benefit but yes relocking the bootloader is best for security. The unlocking process is needed to install an alternative OS though.
Me on my de-googled phone:
Yeah, and it’s presumptious of them to access the WhatsApp account I don’t have…
And to want to access my calendars to book appointments for flights I can’t afford
I got a privacy update for Gmail tools too. It used to be to enable smart tools you needed to allow google to read your email. That does stuff like automatically add calendar events for flights and such.
Now you must also allow the email to be read by their AI services too. I can’t recall precisely how it was worded, but it was an easy decision to keep the “smart” features off.
I mean, I really just use Gmail as the email address I give to sign up for sites and such, but would be good just not to have it one day.
They’d have to install it first.
Google play services says bonjour
Yes, but the phones of all your peers will have that shit on them.
