You're going to use Gemini on Android whether you like it or not

Google sent an email to Android phone owners warning that Gemini “will soon be able to help you use Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off.” The change is scheduled for July 7^th.

The notice generated confusion even in Android-focused publications. — 9to5Google, Android Police, Android Authority. Even after clarifications, including a statement from Google itself, the whole thing remains… confusing.

From what I understand, if Gemini Apps Activity is disabled, Gemini will continue to be available and have access to the mentioned apps, including WhatsApp and Phone. The difference is that interactions with the AI won’t be recorded in the history and will be stored by Google for up to 72 hours, with the guarantee that they won’t be used to train AIs or reviewed by humans.

(In other words, leaving history enabled subjects interactions to AI training and reviews by other humans.)

Those who *really* don’t want Gemini meddling with calls, messages, WhatsApp, and system settings need to disable integrations with each app within the Gemini app itself. Which seems to be another thing, different from Gemini Apps Activity. I presume it’s this app.

The aforementioned specialized publications, after updating their stories to “clear up the confusion,” concluded that the net result of the change is positive for people’s privacy. I’m not so sure about that. Confusions of this type, which sound intentional and try to hide the “nuclear” toggles (that disable the offered feature), tend to be defeats for privacy. And I won’t even get into the merits of whether Gemini snooping through my messages is good or bad.

Or maybe I still don’t understand it properly.

Related link (I think?): the extensive Gemini Apps privacy center.