You're not alone: This email from Google's Gemini team is concerning

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨PrivacyDingus@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.androidauthority.com/gemini-apps-activity-email-july-7-3570651/

Google’s Gemini team is apparently sending out emails about an upcoming change to how Gemini interacts with apps on Android devices. The email informs users that, come July 7, 2025, Gemini will be able to “help you use Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off.” Naturally, this has raised some privacy concerns among those who’ve received the email and those using the AI assistant on their Android devices.

source

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

TingoTenga@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Pls break Google up. Kthx

source
- Lemminary@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Why stop at Google? Break then all up!
  
  source
  - pappabosley@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Seize the means of production
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
Sunflier@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Dear tech bros,

We, the people, don’t want to use your AI shit. Please stop shoving it down our throats. Thank you.

Sincerely, -The people

source
- criss_cross@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The problem is there’s a fair amount of tech CEOs that insist this is the future and everyone needs to hop on which between the hype train, the amount of software peeps out of a job because of layoffs and the amount of snake oils salesmen out of a job because this eats google’s lunch this bubble is just ballooning. You have a lot of people hitching on this bandwagon hoping to sell shovels to the next gold rush.
  
  And for awhile everything is just gonna get shittier.
  
  source
- Boddhisatva@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  But the AI people that the tech bros can now create outnumber real people by ♾️:1. The opinions of real people have ceased to matter even the tiny amount that they once did. So open wide and try not to gag.
  
  source
- dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Is it really the people or just a subset of people that use Lemmy, the vast majority of people seemingly don’t care as is evidenced by the sheer number of people using things like social media.
  
  What might be important to use in this echo chamber isn’t reflective of society on the whole.
  
  source
  - ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’ve been trying to tell people for 15 years. It hasn’t worked a single bit. It’s frustrating that people think they have nothing to hide when their carelessness and lack of tech knowledge is ruining the future of the next generations. I just can’t try to explain it to everyone. They don’t link the relation at all. I thought maybe eventually, they would just get it, but here we still are…
    
    source
  - Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The majority of people eat at McDonalds. It doesn’t make it a good idea on your finances or health. Sheep gonna baa.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
  - nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    it’s mostly just talk
    
    source
  - Tja@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s mostly lemmy. In real life people go from amused to indifferent. I have never met anyone as hostile as the lemmy consensus seems to be. If a feature is useful people will use it, be it AI or not AI. Some AI features are gimmicks and they largely get ignored, unless very intrusive (in which case the intrusivity, not the AI, is the problem).
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
  - MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Obligatory Lemmy is social media response
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
  - SupraMario@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s mainly tech savy people who don’t use it. Tons of people in companies use this shit. The number of people who use “ai” to take auto notes in meetings is insane. It’s a massive security risk but they do it anyways thinking it won’t be stored.
    
    source
- baguettefish@discuss.tchncs.de [bot] ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  yes but what if a company has the ability to create billions of close friends who can recommend sponsored products to you? why would it care about whether you want that or not?
  
  source
- doodledup@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You don’t want to use it.
  
  source
  - Sunflier@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The companies keep preloading it on new tech, updating old tech so its there, preventing the option from disabling it from even being there, and disabling tech that can’t use it.
    
    This. Shit. Can. Fuck. All. The. Way. Off!
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
- Tiger666@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Hahahahhshahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahaha.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Tech bros.
  
  source
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
What about LineageOS?

My guess is the problematic parts here aren’t open source so they should never show up in Lineage OS?

source
neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Linux has become good enough to replace desktop operating systems.

Now, we are back at square one. I’ll be the first to inaccurately declare, “This will be the year of the Linux phone.”

source
- BotsRuinedEverything@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Android… is a Linux phone…?
  
  source
  - neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Not really.
    
    source
- umbrella@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  [deleted]
  source
  - neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Android is Linux… sure.
    
    But it’s not what anyone means when they say they want a Linux phone.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
- Tja@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I use Linux since debian 3.0 and I don’t think Linux is ready to replace desktop os yet. The universe has come up with bigger and more powerful idiots.
  
  source
  - JcbAzPx@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Linux had reached idiot parity with windows at least. Idiot proof OS is a fable that cannot be reached.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
- A_norny_mousse@feddit.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  This is my fourth comment shilling SFOS here, but it just might be what you’re looking for. It is my daily driver.
  
  source
  - pfr@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Wish it was supported in more countries.
    
    source
  - neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That’s pretty cool, I’m working now, but I’m checking out its Android app compatibility.
    
    If it can run my work stuff, I’ll be so happy.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
- pfr@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Behold, the Linux phone:
  
  liberux.net
  
  source
  - cenzorrll@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That looks far too polished with locked in specs for them to not have any prototype. I’d trust companies that have actually made a product that has a janky Linux implementation that’s improving, than one that doesn’t exist yet relying on crowdfunding.
    
    source
- kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Isn’t Android using a Linux kernel already?
  
  source
  - balder1991@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah, but the kernel is a low-level module that handles hardware, memory, and processes—it’s not what users interact with directly, so sharing the same kernel doesn’t make it all that similar as you’d think.
    
    What makes Linux feel like ‘Linux’ to users is the stuff on top: the userland—bash, coreutils, package managers, X11/Wayland, etc. Android replaces almost all of that, so even though it uses the Linux kernel, it doesn’t feel like Linux.
    
    source
  - GreenMartian@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yes. IIRC it’s based on latest LTS kernel with Google patches. So it’s been “year of the Linux phone” for a while now.
    
    It’s unfortunate that the slop they put on top of it is such a privacy nightmare. PostmarketOS is trying to change that and supports Plasma, Gnome, etc. But it’s early days yet and still rough around the edges from what I’ve been reading.
    
    source
  - loutr@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yes, but everything above it (including drivers) is custom-made and tightly controlled by Google.
    
    source
- Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  All I need is a good enough emulation of android apps to fool them (eg for banking).
  
  source
  - zqps@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    “Hello there.” - Play Integrity API
    
    source
  - rakeshmondal@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Unfortunately banking apps are only going to get harder to run on software uncertified by Google.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
  - sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Can you get by with web access? That’s what I do and it’s fine.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
  - A_norny_mousse@feddit.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Sailfish OS has it.
    
    Unfortunately the project has some closed source bits which, imho, aren’t an issue when you look closer. Maybe I’m naive but I trust this EU company.
    
    I use it as my daily driver. It certainly is frugal compared to recent Android versions, but fully functional.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
- Squizzy@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Looking at postmarketOS for my phone too, so sick of this shit
  
  source
  - xiwi@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    PostmarketOS is cool, but as an actual phone replacement it is tough.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
vane@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
So it’s still Your device not Gemini device. I’ll wait couple of years.

source
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I don’t feel very concerned… That’s kind of the point of the service.

Good that there’s an opt-out.

source
- gian@lemmy.grys.it ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  Good that there’s an opt-out.
  
  A supposed opt-out
  
  source
  - ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Well, yeah. I haven’t actually seen this email yet in my personal inbox, nor have I found the opt out personally. Google is kinda weird with their staggered rollouts but I figure it’ll turn up.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
shneancy@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
is gemini on all androids? i remember there once was something called bixby, now when i accidentally hold the home button for too long it tells me to enable “circle”. i’ve disabled all of those “smart” features but fuck knows what is going to get automatically installed in an update next week

source
- Hexarei@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Bixby is/was Samsung’s assistant thing. Unrelated to Google’s Gemini
  
  source
- Engywuck@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Bixby is, or used to be, on Samsung phones.
  
  source
  - Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Gemini replaced Bitchxby on the latest Samsungs.
    
    source
besselj@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Laughs in GrapheneOS

source
- kratoz29@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Why is this a Google Pixel only ROM? Anything special with the Google Pixel?
  
  I even consider Chinese phones a better hardware dela than what Google does, and I know Google software (I mainly use AOSP ROMs, Pixel OS in this case) but if we are swapping right away the ROM of the Pixel and the hardware is subpar what’s the deal with it?
  
  source
  - steal_your_face@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Check out this thread. They go into detail about it.
    
    xcancel.com/GrapheneOS/…/1936420921931084075#m
    
    source
  - sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Pixel phones have an extra security chip in them called the Titan. Other manufacturers lack this.
    
    androidauthority.com/titan-m2-google-3261547/
    
    source
- harcesz@szmer.info ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Nervously chuckles “im in danger” while clicking through to the Graphene rom.
  
  source
- Akip@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  but for how long x.com/GrapheneOS/status/1933177989480456365
  
  source
  - MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    X is blocked on network level here, could you please copy&paste?
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
  - besselj@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Long enough for GOS to port Android 16 or get their own OEM, I hope
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
RejZoR@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’ve not received any mails or notifications. Though I don’t use Gemini at all. Or Google Assistant. Or any assistant.

source
- Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I don’t use them either, but still got the email.
  
  source
  - swearengen@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Same. My only use is accidental.
    
    Guess I’m should get around to disabling it.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
rumba@piefed.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I guess my next phone is going to run NixOS.

source