this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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[–] RedStrider@lemmy.world 82 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

My experience with Gemini:

Hey Google, set a timer for 5 minutes.

Gemini: I'm sorry, I don't understand.

WTF is the point of it then?

Imagine taking away the only useful feature of a voice assistant 💀

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 38 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My recent experience with my phone is I tell it to set a 5 minute timer and it sets one in the fucking Google search browser, and if I page away I lose the timer.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago

I just use the timer on my microwave, I suppose the kitchen is the most likely place you'd want a timer. Unless you were using 5 minute epoxy.

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 10 points 3 weeks ago

When I first got into Android (I miss my Nexus 6 T.T ), it felt like I could do so much more with my phone than I can now. I had so much cool automation shit that leveraged stuff like Google assistant voice commands, but now it's shit on so many levels. It goes beyond the user facing side of things; I used to use the app Tasker for a lot of the automation stuff, and over the years, it seems like the dev has been climbing an uphill battle against Google gating off functionality, and generally making things opaque and difficult for developers.

[–] EndOfLine@lemmy.world 66 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Your chats are saved in your account for up to 72 hours, whether Gemini Apps Activity is on or off.

https://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini

I wonder how long before AI services are added to ad blockers and VPN privacy controls.

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[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 33 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Doesnt Apple also do this with Siri and basically every app unless the user untoggles it?

[–] timewarp@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Yes, for the amount of hate Google gets... Which I think it is fair to be critical of any product that compromises privacy... I recently tried helping my mom clean up her iPhone, and seriously like 100x worse. Almost everything you do on Apple demands you have another Apple device. One of the worst experiences I've ever dealt with.

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[–] galoisghost@aussie.zone 25 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yes and you have to untoggle it for each and every app individually

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[–] figjam@midwest.social 25 points 3 weeks ago

I switched Gemini language to an unsupported language.

[–] insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Anyone know if this is happening outside the US and if it is whether it's happening inside the EU?

Yeah, this seems like an easy lawsuit in the EU tbh

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[–] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I just removed gemini from my phone.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

me too and then it somehow popped up in messages which I had to "turn off" separately. removing AI from an Android phone is an illusion.

[–] AstralPath@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

https://grapheneos.org/

Make your next phone a Pixel and load GrapheneOS onto it. Problem solved.

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[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 3 weeks ago

Is there a petition for antitrust charges against Google somewhere? I'm over the duopoly. Both options suck.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm not signed into a Google account on my phone, am I safe?

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[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I just went into my settings after reading this article (and getting a bit frustrated that it was a wall of text with no clear instructions right up front).

I did a search in settings for "gemini" and found the Gemini settings. There's no clear 'off' switch. But there's is an option to switch back to Google Assistant. So I did that. And not when I search for Gemini in settings it urges me to enable Gemini.

I'm taking that as a good sign that I've disabled it permanently. Thought I'd post this info in case it helps someone else. Or so if I'm incorrect somebody else can correct me.

[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I mean there were no instructions up front because literally Google is refusing to give them, basically.
No more choice just the company force feeding the user and saying it's good for them.

Nowhere in the email or any of the Support pages did Google say how to remove all Gemini integrations from my phone.
I then emailed Google PR and... I asked if someone could provide actionable guidance for my readers who want to ensure Gemini integrations are completely disabled. Instead of answering the question, the person responding to my email wrote, in part: “This update is good for users: they can now use Gemini to complete daily tasks on their mobile devices like send messages, initiate phone calls, and set timers while Gemini Apps Activity is turned off. With Gemini Apps Activity turned off, their Gemini chats are not being reviewed or used to improve our AI models.”

Literally that reads like you can't turn it off and they just scrape less of your data on a technicality.

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[–] FuyuhikoDate@feddit.org 7 points 3 weeks ago

This reminds me that i wanted to unlicl my bootloader on my phone...

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