How to turn off AI in Google Messages, and what each feature sends to Google
The Morse teamPublished 9 min read
How to turn off AI in Google Messages, as of November 2026, starts with Gemini: tap your profile picture, then Messages settings, Gemini in Messages, and turn off Show Gemini button. That hides Gemini but doesn't erase what you said to it, so open the Gemini chat, tap More, then Delete conversation. Most of the app's other AI, including Magic Compose on supported phones, Smart Reply, and nudity warnings, runs on your phone. Gemini itself, Remix, and the opt-in Enhanced scam protection send your words or photos to Google's servers.
We read Google's own help pages on November 12, 2026: Google Messages Help (Gemini in Messages, Gemini suggestions, Magic Compose, Remix, spam and scam protection, sensitive content warnings, Suggested actions, photomoji, and the app's privacy basics), Gemini Apps Help (activity, Connected Apps, temporary chats, and the Privacy Hub, last updated October 26, 2026), Android Help (AICore and Scam Detection), Pixel Phone Help (scam alerts and AI notification summaries), and Google's October 14, 2026 post on scam protections. Google deserves credit here. Nearly every Messages help page says plainly whether your words leave the phone, and for most features the answer is no.
Which AI features are in Google Messages, and which ones reach Google?
Every row below comes from Google's own pages, read November 12, 2026.
| Feature | Where it runs | What reaches Google | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini in Messages (the chat with Gemini) | Google's servers, as one of the Gemini Apps | What you type and any photo you add, saved to Gemini Apps Activity; Google says these chats "aren't end-to-end encrypted" | Profile picture, Messages settings, Gemini in Messages, turn off Show Gemini button; then More, Delete conversation in the Gemini chat (Google) |
| Gemini suggestions (cards for movies, restaurants, and the like) | Created on your phone | Only the search term, if you tap a suggestion, plus the suggestion's category and whether you tapped it | Google's page gives no switch; a suggestion does nothing until you tap it (Google) |
| Magic Compose (drafts and rewrites) | On your phone, with Gemini Nano, on devices with AICore | "No messages are sent to Google" | Google's page gives no switch; it only drafts when you tap Plus, then Magic Compose (Google) |
| Remix (AI edits to photos) | Google's servers | Your prompt, the photo you start from, and the new image, "temporarily stored and processed by Google servers" | Google's page gives no switch; it only runs when you tap Remix on a photo (Google) |
| Smart Reply | On your phone, with "pre-trained models that run entirely on your device" | Nothing, per Google | Google's privacy page names no path (Google) |
| Suggested actions (calendar invites, recent photos, Meet calls, location, GIFs) | In the app, on by default | Not stated | More options, Suggestions in chat, turn off Suggested actions (Google) |
| Spam and scam protection, Standard (the default) | On your phone | Links in messages, which are uploaded "to verify that the link is safe," and phone numbers of non-contacts, stored temporarily | Profile picture, Messages settings, Protection & Safety, Spam and scam protection, then No protection (Google) |
| Spam and scam protection, Enhanced (opt-in) | Google's Private AI Compute, with cloud Gemini models | Your conversations with unknown senders, analyzed in the cloud | Same screen, then Standard protection or No protection (Google) |
| Scam Detection alerts on message notifications | In "a secure, isolated environment" on the phone | Nothing, "unless you choose to share it" | Phone Settings, search "Scam Detection," turn off Message scams; on a Pixel, Security & privacy, More security & privacy, Scam Detection (Android Help, Pixel Help) |
| Sensitive content warnings (blurring nudity) | On your phone, through Android System SafetyCore | Nothing; it "doesn't send detected nude images or videos to Google" | Off by default for adults. To change it: Messages settings, Protection & safety, Manage sensitive content warnings, then Warnings in Google Messages (Google) |
| Photomoji (turning photos into reactions) | "On-device Google AI" | Not stated | Only runs when you create one (Google) |
| AI notification summaries (Pixel 9 and later, except the 9a and 10a) | Not stated on Pixel Help | Not stated | Off by default. Phone Settings, Notifications, Notification Summaries, or add Messages under "Don't include these apps" (Pixel Help) |
| The Gemini app reading and sending your texts | Google's servers | Your messaging logs, contacts, and device settings; messages you send this way "are not end-to-end-encrypted by Google" | Gemini app, Menu, Customize, Connectors, then More options and Disconnect on Messages (Google) |
The last row is the Gemini app, not Messages, but it reads the same texts. Google's Privacy Hub says Phone, Messages, and WhatsApp keep working "whether Keep Activity is on or off" (Google).
How do you turn off Gemini in Google Messages?
Hide the button, then delete the chat. Google gives these steps (Google):
- Open Google Messages.
- At the top, tap your profile picture or initials, then Messages settings.
- Tap Gemini in Messages and turn off Show Gemini button.
- Open your chat with Gemini, tap More, then Delete conversation, and follow the prompts.
A Techwiser guide says turning Gemini off makes "the Gemini chat thread instantly disappear" (Techwiser, August 2024). Google's page treats deletion as a separate step, and only deleting the conversation in Messages removes it from both the app and your Gemini Apps Activity. It works the other way too. Deleting a prompt in Gemini Apps Activity "doesn't delete the chat from Google Messages or any Android backup of your messages." If the chat lingers on another device, Google says to check that the phone you deleted it on is online with RCS chats on.
Google's own pages disagree about what Gemini can reach from inside Messages. The Messages page says, "You can also use apps in your chat with Gemini in Google Messages." The Connected Apps page, read the same day, says, "For now, Gemini can't use Connected Apps in Gemini in Google Messages" (Google). If you don't want Gemini touching your other apps either way, disconnect them in the Gemini app, as in the table.
What does Gemini in Google Messages keep, and can a person read it?
It keeps your chats with your Google Account, and yes, a person can read some of them. The Privacy Hub lists "Gemini in the Google Messages app in specific locations" among the Gemini Apps, so the same rules apply as in the Gemini app (Google):
- Keep Activity is on by default if you're 18 or over, and activity older than 18 months is deleted automatically. You can change that to 3 or 36 months, or to never (Google).
- Turning Keep Activity off still leaves each conversation "saved with your account for up to 72 hours."
- Human reviewers, "including Google's trained service providers," read a subset of chats. "Reviewed chats are retained for up to three years," and they aren't deleted when you delete your activity.
- There's no temporary chat here. Google's temporary chat page says the feature "is not available for Gemini in Chrome or Gemini in Google Messages" (Google), so in Messages, Keep Activity and deleting are the levers you have.
To stop future chats from being reviewed, Google says to turn off Keep Activity: in the Gemini app, Menu, your profile picture, Gemini Apps Activity, then On, Turn off and delete activity. Every delete option is in our guide on how to delete Gemini history, and what Google trains on is in is Gemini private.
How do you turn off Gemini Remix in Google Messages?
Remix has no off switch on Google's help page, because it only runs when you tap Remix on a photo. As of November 12, 2026, Google calls it "an experimental feature," available in 17 countries and regions, to people 18 and over with a personal Google Account and RCS chats on, with a daily limit on generations (Google).
Remix sends your photos to Google. The prompt, your photo, and the image Remix makes "will be temporarily stored and processed by Google servers," and Remix may refuse a photo or prompt that's "flagged for a possible violation" of Google's terms. Google's page doesn't say how long "temporarily" is. If a friend's group photo isn't yours to send to Google, don't remix it.
Does Magic Compose send your texts to Google?
No, on phones with AICore. Google says Magic Compose runs on Gemini Nano, "the data is processed on your phone without leaving the device and no messages are sent to Google," and it reads the 20 previous messages for context (Google). Image captions and voice message transcripts can feed its suggestions. It's limited to English, to adults, and to people signed in to a Google Account in Messages.
AICore needs Android 14 or later, and Google's Android Help says features using it keep "sensitive information" on the device, "never sent to the cloud or to Google" (Android Help).
Does Google Messages scam detection read your texts?
On your phone, yes. On Google's servers, only if you choose Enhanced protection. Standard protection uses "machine learning models that operate on your device," checks links with Google, and checks whether a non-contact has been flagged as a spammer. Google says "only reported messages and anonymized metadata are used to train AI models" (Google).
Google announced Enhanced protection on October 14, 2026 as "this new opt-in security setting." It lets scam checks "tap into Google's most capable cloud Gemini models" when you're talking with an unknown sender (Google). Google says that analysis runs in Private AI Compute, where your data is "not available to anyone else, including Google." Our page on Google's Private AI Compute covers what that claim rests on.
The phone's own Scam Detection alerts are a separate switch, on by default. If you tap Not a scam on an alert, Google says detection "is turned off for that conversation for a while," and you can choose to share that message with Google (Android Help).
How to ask AI about a text without it landing in your Google Account
Every switch above exists because the AI is built into the app you text with, and tied to your Google Account. Gemini in Messages won't run without a personal Google Account, saves to Gemini Apps Activity, and offers no temporary chat. Morse is a separate web app at trymorse.ai, so you choose what to paste in, and the chat history stays on your device.
- Anonymous, to ask Gemini about a message with no Google Account behind it. Pick Gemini, GPT, or Claude, and our proxy removes your account, email, and IP address before the message goes out under Morse's own account. The provider sees the text without knowing it's you, and may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy. Leave names and phone numbers out of what you paste.
- Private, for a reply you'd rather no host keep. It's where a new chat starts. Open-weight models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM answer under the zero data retention agreements Morse has with its inference, search, and other providers. Where a provider confirms zero retention on each reply, Morse checks it and refuses a reply without it.
- E2EE, for a text no one else should read. Your browser verifies the secure enclave's hardware attestation, then encrypts the message for that enclave alone, and our servers relay ciphertext they can't read. The enclaves are run by third-party providers, not by Morse, and the guarantee rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed. It comes with Pro, at $19 a month.
In every mode, your chat history is stored in your browser, encrypted, not on our servers, and it locks when you sign out. There's no chat history on our servers to switch off, because our servers don't keep messages or log message content. Morse doesn't train AI on your content, sell your data, or show ads (Morse privacy policy). Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities. Clearing your browser deletes the chats for good, and we can't restore them, so copy out any draft you want to send.
Which Google Messages AI setting should you change?
- Gemini in your message list: turn off Show Gemini button, then delete the Gemini conversation.
- What Gemini already saved: turn off Keep Activity and delete your Gemini Apps Activity. On Morse, chats stay in your browser.
- Photos going to Google's servers: don't tap Remix, and leave scam protection on Standard.
- Gemini reading your texts from the Gemini app: disconnect Messages under Connectors. Every other Gemini switch on the phone is in our guide to turning off Gemini on Android.
Try a chat from the Morse home page without an account, or sign up free with no card.
Common questions
Does turning off Gemini in Google Messages turn it off everywhere on my phone?
No. The Show Gemini button switch lives in Messages settings and only covers Messages. The power button, "Hey Google," the Gemini app, and Gemini's access to your texts through Connected Apps each have their own setting, which we list in our guide to turning off Gemini on Android.
Can I use Gemini in Google Messages on a work or school phone?
Not with a work account. Google's help page says it needs a personal Google Account you manage yourself, and that it doesn't work with a Google Workspace account or one managed by Family Link. You also need to be 18 or over, with RCS chats turned on.
Does Gemini in Google Messages know where I am?
Only roughly. Google says Gemini in Messages doesn't have access to your precise location, and uses the general area from your IP address, or the home or work address in your Google Account, for questions like the weather.
Does Google use my texts to show me ads?
Google says no. Its privacy page for the app says "Google Messages doesn't use information collected in our app for advertising." That's a promise about the Messages app; a chat with Gemini falls under the Gemini Apps Privacy Notice instead.