If I correctly understand Google's overly-complex privacy UI, people can disable the storing of their interactions with the "traditional" Google Assistant. Google will reportedly be phasing out Google Assistant during 2025 and is replacing it with Google Gemini Assistant. According to this Google support page , it appears that there is no way to prevent Google from storing (and reading) everything you say to their "improved" assistant: > **Even when Gemini Apps Activity is off**, your conversations will be saved with your account for up to 72 hours to allow Google to provide the service and process any feedback. This activity won’t appear in your Gemini Apps Activity. Google says all your conversations with their Gemini Assistant will be saved "with your account", but I'm not seeing them disclose ***where exactly*** all your conversations will be saved. Nor does Google mention any way to manually delete sensitive conversations or accidental recordings that Google makes when it mistakenly thinks people are talking to their AI bot. Am I interpreting Google's words and actions correctly? **Is Google's new Gemini Assistant much less private than the product it is replacing, given that Gemini Assistant *always* saves every conversation you have with it for up to 72 hours?**

I just got my replacement Droid and will be sending my current Droid back to Motorola. I'm sure they are going to refurbish it and resell it. I've backed up everything and I'm going to be keeping my microSD card, but how to ensure that all the data is completely wiped off the internal memory so there is no chance that it can be recovered by someone else?

How can you set Chrome to sync passwords to Google Account - but not any other data? Chrome is designed to send full browser history to Google, for ad-tracking purposes. What's the full list of things to make sure are turned off, after signing in to Chrome with my Google Account? --- I'm setting up a new device (Pixel 9 with Android 16). It comes with Google Password Manager. Sadly, Chrome uses its own autofill code. When Chrome offers to save something in Google Password Manager, it does _not_ look the same as in any other app. => If I _don't_ sign in to Chrome, I will have two separate password managers: 1. System-level autofill with Google Password Manager - which can only save passwords in your Google Account. 2. If you don't sign in to Chrome using your Google account, then Chrome can only save passwords "on this device". I use Firefox as my web browser. But I'm used to keeping the original browser as a backup (or keeping Chrome on Linux). I need to be able to check whether a website has decided to hate Firefox, or whether it's broken for everyone. It might sound picky, but I don't want my backup browser to use a separate "on my device" section in Google Password Manager. It's too much confusion. I want to have a good setup, that I can recommend to other people.

I wanted to reduce the amount of thing that Google knows about myself, because after reading several articles about what data that Google collect by default in android, I feel terrified. Because it is like no matter where I go, there is a creep behind my back that keeps on following me, watching me 24/7, like a drunk weirdo on the street that looks at me with scary eye and keeps on insisting to follow me (where in this case, the creep is Google). While trying to reduce the amount of data that google can collect on my phone (I have uninstalled or disabled all google app, including google play store, except google play services) , there is a severe roadblock that I encountered and don't know how to solve. One of the problem is that **I don't know how to keep google play services enabled while also preventing it from connecting to internet to stop google from misusing it to collect data in my phone**. I can disable it, but many app on my phone (such as WhatsApp) either breaks or work incorrectly when google play services is disabled. The most notable problem is that WhatsApp stop working in the background when google play services is disabled, that means I wont receive call and messages unless WhatsApp is opened in my screen (I have tried everything to prevent it from stop working in the background, none worked). To keep it simple, this is what I want to achieve: **I want google play services to remain enabled and all apps that use google play services able to connect to internet, while at the same time I don't want to allow google play services to connect to the internet**. In other word, I need some kind of firewall that allows all app, except google play services, from connecting to the internet. Android does not have firewall by default, and I tried to use firewall for non-rooted device such as NetGuard. To my surprise, google play services didn't show up in any of the firewall I tried, which means I cant use the firewall to block it. I really, really want to avoid rooting my phone because of serious security issues and the possibility of bricking my phone in the process. So, how to achieve what i want in non-rooted android phone?

> ### Turn "Better ads & Google services" on or off > > This setting lets your phone number to be used across Google services to show you ads more relevant to you. If you don’t want personalized ads, turn off the setting ... > > \- [Google Account Help](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3463280?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&oco=1#zippy=%2Cturn-better-ads-google-services-on-or-off) Google created this phone number setting to make money. It must get turned on some other way, that doesn't involve you digging into Google settings. I want to find how this happens. When I use a computer to add a phone number to Gmail / Google account, it leaves this ad-tracking turned off. Do Android phones ask you to turn on this "Better ads" setting?

I am trying to set up my new phone and want to understand what information is backed up by chrome in Android/Windows which I can restore. My questions are: Does chrome back up cache, local data like temp files, login data and thumbnails, so that I don't need to set up apps again I new phone, from what I read on internet, apparently not

I'm trying to eliminate all **Google** and **Meta** services from my digital life. (I don't like their policies.) So I thought about buying a new smartphone, removing the pre-installed ROM, and installing Android AOSP without Google **Gapps**. However, the question I would like to ask is whether programmatically, a lot of information from my AOSP smartphone will communicate some information with Google despite not using their services. Is removing Gapps enough, or could something else be done? Is there empirical evidence in the code that confirms this? Considering that for web browsing I would mainly use Mozilla Firefox with DuckDuckGo thus avoiding any Chromium-based browser, and for messaging Telegram downloaded from their Website. (I haven't used WhatsApp for several years.)

When you want to "share" a file to an app, a line of "recommended people to share with" appears above the apps: **Problem**: I often need to perform demos on my phone, and for privacy reasons I do not want my friends to appear there. **Question**: How to disable this feature, meaning that only suggested **apps** will appear? Or at least, how to clear them or remove them one by one? Notes: - My phone is not rooted, Pixel with stock Android 14. - I also post screencasts several times per day, so going very fast is not a solution. Editing each screencast is not realistic either. - Introduced in 2015, this feature is called direct share , and the contacts listed come from a variety of apps, such as Messenger, LINE, Whatsapp, and many others. When I long-press a friend, the only possible action is to pin them. - On rooted phones this might have worked before Android 10: https://github.com/stefansundin/android-disable-direct-share - Apparently on Samsung and LG , direct share can be disabled (*unfortunately Pixel has no such setting*):

Is it possible for third-party SDKs integrated into my Android app, to access API keys or other sensitive data from my app's code or data? How can I ensure these SDKs only access the data they absolutely need?

While researching app behavior on Android—particularly on Samsung devices—I noticed that many apps (e.g., YouTube, Google Play Services for AR, Samsung-specific preinstalled apps) accumulate cache data even when they haven’t been opened or actively used. This led me to question whether cache data could be used to infer user behavior, especially in the context of advertising. What I’ve observed: Apps like Samsung Notes and Samsung Cloud build up cache despite never being launched (according to my device usage diagnostics). Samsung devices often come preloaded with apps and services tied to advertising platforms (e.g., AdGear Technologies, Inc., listed as a Samsung-affiliated advertiser on iabprivacy.com). Cache typically doesn’t contain personal identifiers, but aggregated cache data across multiple apps could potentially reveal patterns of user behavior or preferences. My question: Is it technically possible for a device manufacturer or third-party service to use app cache data (even from unused apps) to infer user behavior or interests for advertising purposes? I’m particularly interested in: Whether Android or Samsung’s system services can access and correlate cache data across apps. If cache data (e.g., image thumbnails, preloaded content, timestamps) can be used to build behavioral profiles. Any known mechanisms or permissions that would allow this kind of cross-app cache analysis. Cache is often overlooked in privacy discussions because it’s assumed to be non-personal. However, I’d like to know whether others—especially those with expertise in Android internals, Java/Kotlin development, or digital privacy law—have insights into whether cache could be exploited in this way. Additionally, while it’s true that system apps may have access to broader system-level data, most users don’t have root access by default on Samsung phones. This makes it difficult for users to verify what data is being accessed or how it’s being used. From a transparency standpoint, this lack of visibility is part of why cache behavior—even from unused apps—raises valid concerns. References: Sertainty. (n.d.). Can cached data undermine your company’s secure data? Sertainty. Retrieved May 24, 2025, from https://www.sertainty.com/blog/cached-data-threats/ Lie Ryan. (2015, April 29). Best practice for caching sensitive data. Information Security Stack Exchange. Retrieved May 24, 2025, from https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/87144/best-practice-for-caching-sensitive-data

I have been using the app for years before I started caring about privacy concerns. Now I backed up all my notes to my hard drive and wish to wipe them from the app, so I want to know: Should I erase them manually, then delete my account? Just delete the account directly ? Erase the notes and request an account deletion from the devs themselves? How can I make sure there aren't backed-up versions remaining on their servers?* **Their privacy policy says: "Please note, however, that there might be latency in deleting information from our servers and backed-up versions might exist after deletion."**

I noticed for a while using the app TrackerControl that Firefox connects to Facebook sites very often while I surf the web, for example a simple search on Google, or a search on Startpage.com which sites don't have anything in their pages linked to facebook sites. I have set TC to block trackers in Firefox by default. ### Trying to find out when this occurs I thinked that this happens in general until now. In fact before writing this question I did some tests and I noticed **one probable behaviour causing** connections every time, that is if I search a string through a Firefox's search engine in search bar. This happens both with predefined engine (google) and with custom one (startpage). This tests was done when I've just opened Firefox in private browsing so that there wasn't other working tabs (and there was no loaded facebook tabs opened in normal browsing tabs). Here is TrackerControl after a Startpage search (from bar) where Facebook domains result blocked 5 seconds ago: Here after a Google search (from bar) where Facebook's domains result also blocked 5 seconds ago: *Note:* probably (as I remember) instagram's domains are there because I visited it once and it wasn't blocked yet. The relevants domains here maybe are: *scontent-fco2-1.xx.fbcdn.net* , *scontent.xx.fbcdn.net* and *static.xx.fbcdn.net* The domains contacted are probably all that appear in the screen under Facebook (see 2nd update). But I noticed just sometimes that connections happen also if I only interact with firefox's bar and digit something. Than if I just use a page like this and I don't touch search bar, connections to facebook seems to not occurs since TC indicates that some minutes passed after the last connection. But now after about 30 minutes another connection was made even if I didn't touch search bar. ### Who is the actor This behaviour is strange because it seems that probably is acted by Firefox itself. I've never heard or read that Firefox communicates with Facebook and there is no reason, but only with Google for scanning URLs and downloads. Also after searching in google there are no results. I don't have strange extensions. Moreover I have the ext. *μBlock* and *Noscript* that should block Facebook together because I explicitly set the first to block Meta's websites in general and the second to block other non website's scripts by default. So those connections in TC should have never occured, except I think if they are made by Firefox, at which level every extension can't operate. Read 1st update. The problem occured for months, but I postponed this question until now. This means that I noticed this also with older versions of Firefox before the present since more or less one year ago or more. **Note**: TrackerControl app says explicitly that it doesn't support blocking trackers in browsers yet, but I read I could use it anyway. ### My complete "configuration": - Firefox from Play Store, version *114.2.0* (for successive versions see bottom) - Extensions: *uBlock Origin*, *NoScript*, *Decentraleyes*, *Google search fixer*, and other non relevant here but installed noramally from Firefox - I have search suggestions disabled so no contacts should there be while texting in bar. Moreover I have studies disabled and just "technical data and usage" enabled. - TrackerControl app installed from F-Droid, version *2023.01.31-fdroid* - Android version 8.0.0 (I don't think is relevant) - I forgot to say that I have from the beginning Avast Antivirus Installed, that should protect. I'm not an expert of TrackerControl. I hope that someone knows what is the reason because is not a good thing. Does Firefox do this in its code (I don't think) or is just an error of TrackerControl (It's not, see Update 2) or a malware? It's too invasive. Has someone experienced this or can reproduce this? Thanks in advance. ### Versions: I've checked if connections to facebook continue in newer versions and I noticed that them happened after every search in these ones: 115.2.1, 116.0.0(this not sure if typed correct), 116.2.0, 116.3.0, 117.0.0, 117.1.0, 118.1.2, 119.1.1, 120.1.0 (current) Just in version 118.1.1 I noticed very rare connections also after days, but they occurred. Generally it continues with every successive updates. --- ### Updates: - As asked in comments, disabling all extensions and restarting Firefox (also rebooting Android) doesn't eliminate the problem, connection persists after a search on the bar. - I tried app NoRoot Firewall in place of TC (both are VPN based); it gived connections to facebook (and also to instagram) in log right after a search. But Firefox connections was all allowed in rules of NoRoot Firewall. After I re-enabled TC (disabled NoRoot F.), which blocked facebook, those connections was more sporadic or absent for some time. But after one day of use (always with TC block activated) the problem returned as before, so the browser tries to connect at least after every search in bar. - I want to note that those facebook's domains which I look to often, are under "Essential" section. There are also other fb domains under "Social networks" which is tried to connect to after a search. - **Important**: All this happens on that Firefox I have installed; in fact if I install a new one all this things don't happen. *So it is a malware that changed something in Firefox that persists with updates? Is it possible? Or maybe in the past I have installed accidentally an extension or taken a malware during surfing, that changes Firefox persistently?* If this is the case Firefox didn't protects itself or Google/Android OS or Avast didn't protect the phone from malware inserting in an application (which should be write protected). In fact I never rooted my phone, but the support ended since some years from the first post so something utilized a vulnerability to write where it should can't do? I have seen that the Knox bit (I own a Samsung) has not been changed from default value, so the malware has never rooted the phone (if this bit works). - For the persistent changes I thinked there was some about:config entries modified. So (I figured out how to do and) I searched in all entries some links related to fb but I didn't find anything. So I think is some strange malware from fb more deep in the application.

# Preface: A warning for parents If you want to protect your kids, disabling Incognito mode is usually not enough. If your kids are under age 13, it's wise to use a [good filter](https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/117394/on-android-how-to-disable-google-chromes-incognito-mode) to block the YouTube app and website altogether. You can then switch them to [YouTube Kids](https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/378644/youtube-kids-is-cleaner-than-regular-youtube-sadly-i-havent-found-any-metho) . To prevent late-night video viewing, and to avoid the [late-night reluctant messaging problem](https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/117394/on-android-how-to-disable-google-chromes-incognito-mode) : At night, you can take away your kid's laptop. And you can configure a [bedtime](https://www.salon.com/2019/04/28/how-to-turn-kids-phones-off-at-night-or-anytime-really_partner/) for her phone and tablet. This will also make it harder for her to secretly use Facebook and games overnight. # Background The official YouTube app for Android includes an feature called ["Incognito mode"](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9040743) . I'd like to prevent myself from using this mode, in order to discourage myself from viewing risqué content. I'm logged into a [Google Family Link](https://families.google.com/familylink/) "child account". Family Link has automatically disabled Chrome's incognito mode. Unfortunately, the YouTube app's incognito mode still works fine. My phone is not rooted. Please assume that, if necessary, I'm willing to root it. # My options I assume my options include: * To downgrade to an older version of the YouTube app, from before the feature was rolled out. * To disable the app altogether. (If I still want to watch YouTube, my only remaining options will then be to use a web browser or a third-party YouTube client app. The website works quite well in both Chrome and Firefox Mobile. Maybe some of the third-party apps work equally well; I haven't yet tried many of them.) * Or to contact the Family Link team with an enhancement request. # My question Do I have any options other than the three options mentioned above? For example, can you offer me some instructions for modifying the decompressed YouTube .apk file contents, or can you suggest some other options?

The only reason I am still using an iPhone is due to the fact that most Android phones did not allow control of per-app access permission. The App Ops feature was once there but pulled. I know some Chinese Android phones, such as XiaoMi and Huawei, provide the app permission feature. Is the feature available in _mainstream_ Android phones, such as the Nexus, Samsung, LG, HTC ... for latest version of Android 4.4.2 or upcoming Android L?

In my phone book, I have both personal contacts and work-related contacts, like clients, contractors, etc. Applications such as 'WhatsApp' are great and easy, but I do not necessarily want to add all contacts to all apps that use the contact book. Is there **either an alternative contact** book that allows only certain people (groups?) to be shared with an app while keeping others out, **or a privacy setting** in the default contact book that allows certain contacts not to be seen by every app?

Is there any way I could figure out exactly when a specific image on an Android phone was accessed by Google Chrome? I am trying to figure out if a certain image in my gallery was uploaded to Google Images for reverse image searching.

I'm using Infinix Note 30 with Android 13. I'm currently trying to achieve location privacy on my phone. I have denied location permission for all apps (except system apps and Google Play Services, because I cannot disable it, it says device need permission to operate), I also disabled all "location services" because I figure these location services are collecting my location data. I only enable these services when I desperately need the GPS and disable them when I no longer need (the GPS is really bad without these location services, maybe it was intentional to punish user for disabling them by not adding necessary GPS feature to base android?). Then I realized apps still can track my location through "nearby device" feature in two ways: 1. By scanning for nearby device on my phone 2. By scanning for nearby device on other phone near me and figure out my approximate location if my phone was detected on that other phone Fixing 1 is easy, I simply deny nearby device permissions for all apps (except system apps, because I cannot disable it, it says device need permission to operate). I also disabled "Bluetooth scanning" to stop apps and services from scanning for nearby devices. Fixing 2 on the other hand, I cant find the option to disable nearby device feature. I only can deny nearby device permission for app in my phone, but I can't find the settings to disable nearby device feature to prevent other phone from scanning my phone. Does anyone know where is the settings to disable nearby device feature? Denying nearby device permission is not enough, I need to disable the nearby device feature itself.

I have a VPN to a service, and an app to deal with it. I want this app to ...really not working et all, if the VPN is not turned on. My best idea is to limit its network access to the VPN interface. In Linux, it would be easy with iptables (+ using that apps have their own uid on Android), but is there a much better way?

Some time ago, my private pictures and videos on my phone got published on the internet by someone else. I want to know where they got published and take them down. Is there any way to trace my face across the internet and be able to take down myself? Something like picture or retrieval apps that I can install on my phone? I have tried to use Google Images or Lens, and it tells me that it's not capable of doing this, which I know is a lie. I have also tried using other apps like Criminal Checks, etc. At one point, it told me that my info had been on the internet since 2019. So, I know something is out there.

Sometimes, I cannot find new contacts that I add to the Truecaller phonebook, but sometimes, I think it shares/leaks my contacts to the public. It shows other people's contact details that I never added there. So I am thinking if it is doing the same to me. Android: 7.1.1 Phone: Oneplus 3T