this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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103
How to stop Google from watching and listening on my phone? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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...within reason. I know that the top answer will be to flash a different OS on your device. A lot of us are not at that point right now.

So I was texting with my wife in Spanish and suddenly a system bubble popped up, "would you like to translate this to English?" At a minimum, this means that Google is reading the words on my screen at all times to detect the language. I don't know if this is possibly done on device, but translation certainly isn't. I've already changed my system translation app to Translate You.

I've noticed other times that Google watches or listens in the background. It has a feature to detect ambient songs playing, for example.

What other standard settings should I check for to prevent Google from watching and listening to my phone in the background?

Edit: I was not using a Google messeging app at the time. It was detecting the text from another app. The specific setting in this case was to switch off "Live Translate," in System settings.

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I don't know how helpful it will be, but probably the best thing to do is to just find ways to decrease its use. For me, I made two big changes:

  1. Bought a step counter.
  2. Bought an alarm clock.

Those two purchases mean I can turn my phone off at night completely and only have to have it on during the day when I'm actually using it.

That'll help cut down on the data collection. Technologically, I don't think there's a way to have it on 24/7 and completely turn off its native data collecting elements.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If you do need to have it on 24/7, the two biggest changes you can make are turning off location services and mic/content access on all of the apps you use.

It's not a 100% solution, but it'll cut down on a lot of the nonsense.

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Now if only there was a way to make it quit nagging me to turn on location every time I try to use maps. I fucking know location is off you stupid fucking "smart" phone.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I have mine set so I'm prompted to enable my location 'this time only', so I get a popup to prompt me whenever I open a maps app. The other options I have are to enable it 'when app is in use' and 'always', neither of which I like, personally.

I'm not sure if that's a universal thing though.