…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.

  • @sbvEnglish
    5•2 months ago

    FWIW, music detection happens on device with a relatively small library of hashes.

    When music plays nearby, your phone compares a few seconds of music to its on-device library to try to recognize the song. This processing happens on your phone and is private to you.

    That’s for Pixels. I believe the result also stays on your phone.

    • @[email protected]OP
      1•2 months ago

      Wow, I had no idea. that’s pretty impressive. I know that it also keeps a record of every song detected. I’m not sure if that stays on device or not.