Gemini working even with 'Activity' off: How it affects you?
What's the story
Google has announced that its Gemini app will soon provide basic smart assistant capabilities on Android devices, even when the "Activity" feature is disabled. This means users can access these capabilities without their prompts and responses being stored long-term, although they may be saved for up to 72 hours for service provision and security. The update is expected to be rolled out starting July 7.
Feature details
What is Gemini Apps Activity?
Gemini Apps Activity is a feature that saves users' prompts and Gemini's responses on myactivity.google.com/product/gemini. Google uses this data to improve its products and services, as well as machine-learning technologies. The company allows human reviewers to read, annotate, and process this data for these purposes. However, users can also turn off (and delete) Gemini Apps Activity if they wish to do so.
Extension capabilities
4 extensions available in the Gemini app
The Gemini app comes with four extensions, namely @Phone, @Messages, @WhatsApp, and @Utilities. These allow users to call contacts or businesses, send messages via WhatsApp, open apps or set timers/alarms. They can also control phone settings such as media playback and check/reply to messages among other things. Even if the Gemini Apps Activity is disabled by a user, these extensions will still be available for use starting July 7.
User autonomy
Users will now have more control over their experience
The latest update from Google also gives users more control over their experience with the Gemini app. If a user has already disabled any of the four extensions (from Gemini > profile menu > Apps), they will remain disabled even after this update. This means that users who prefer not to use certain features of the app can do so without worrying about them being re-enabled automatically.