…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.
If it’s Android with Google apps, it isn’t your phone.
Are you using Gbord? Changing your keyboard app is easy and may be painless depending on how you type. I like Heliboard, there are many others though https://f-droid.org/packages/helium314.keyboard/
You can also use something like RethinkDNS https://f-droid.org/packages/com.celzero.bravedns/ and block connections to Google (or anywhere else)
Those would be a start
You could avoid Google messaging apps, avoid Gmail, avoid Chrome and replace the Google keyboard with something else. But I don’t think you can really stop Google watching and listening on stock Android. That’s why the replacement OSs exist.
If Google play service is running… Yeah, you are fucked, GPS owns your phone and it allows you to use it.
Try using Signal first, in addition to a FOSS keyboard.
I’m guessing you’re using a Pixel phone? My partner’s phone does the same background music detection, I think it’s gross. These are some of the things I’ve done to help prevent the most obvious examples of spying on my Samsung:
Disable all permissions except ones that you absolutely cannot live without, set those to “ask every time.”
Use a physical camera cover whenever you’re not taking a photo.
Turn off location anytime you’re not actively using navigation.
use a VPN with always-on settings enabled.
stop using Google apps entirely (Chrome, Mail, Maps, YouTube, etc.) Switch to web browsing on Firefox with unlock Origin installed
There’s probably some way to directly uninstall other Google bloatware on your phone. I recently followed this tutorial to delete Samsung’s voice assistant from my device, I’m sure there’s a similar process for the Pixel
I only use Google Maps because it warns of police speed traps. Do other apps have similar warnings?
I believe Waze does. But I use google maps sinply because it has the most accurate real-time info because of the sheer volume of data it crowdsources.
