Summary
There’s a lot to like about Google Messages. You get RCS, cross-device sync, a clean interface, and all those fun features. But not every one of those settings or features is helpful. There are a few that are straight-up privacy nightmares. The good news is that they’re all easy to live without and not hard to change. You just have to know where to look. Gemini doesn’t belong here Let messaging be raw and simple Google Messages ships with Gemini baked in, like most other Google apps. And it can do a lot of things, like draft a message, brainstorm ideas, help you plan something, or search for things mid-conversation. Personally, though, I don’t find any of this useful. My bigger issue is that these chats with Gemini aren’t end-to-end encrypted, which means they are not as safe as my other texts. And the last thing I want is my conversation with Gemini to be read by a hacker or my ISP. So yes, even if you find Gemini useful, you might want to rethink if it’s actually worth the privacy risk. If not, head to Messages Settings > Gemini in Messages and turn off Show Gemini button. This will hide that Gemini icon on the main screen, and I’m sure you won’t miss it. Disable sensitive content warnings Those alerts come with trade-offs Google Messages has a feature that scans incoming and outgoing images for nudity and flags them with a blur and a warning. It’s a noble feature, which is powered by the Android System SafetyCore app. Although the scanning happens on the device, I’m still not a huge fan of it, especially as an adult. I also haven’t received such messages in all these years. More importantly, the feature isn’t perfect. Sometimes, it can annoyingly flag perfectly fine images as nude and miss the actual nudity in the same breath. At that point, it’s just friction with no real payoff. To disable it, head to Messages Settings > Protection and safety > Manage sensitive content warnings and disable Warnings in Google Messages toggle. You can also go ahead and uninstall Android System SafetyCore app, though doing that can affect some of the other features, such as spam protection. Turn off suggestions and magic compose I don’t want my texts to be processed Smart Reply and Magic Compose are meant to make texting faster. Smart Reply suggests quick responses based on what was sent, and Magic Compose can generate or rewrite text using generative AI. These features also read your previous messages to understand the context. Still, since it’s AI, these automated responses aren’t always accurate. And when they are, I don’t like them because they all feel robotic. There’s no personality to them, which kind of defeats the point of texting for me. Again, all of the processing happens on-device, so there’s no data leaving your phone. The only catch is these features are powered by an app called AICore, which takes around 6GB of storage. That’s a lot of storage for something I don’t find useful at all. I’ve uninstalled AICore and also disabled the Smart Reply, Suggest actions, and Show Magic Compose from Messages Settings. Your profile details are more public than you think Stop sharing your name and profile picture with everyone By default, when you text someone, Google Messages shares your name and the profile picture you’re using on your Google account. That means if you text someone once, they can see your name and picture right away. This seems harmless, but it’s also unnecessary. I’ve limited the visibility of my name and profile picture to my contacts only. To do the same, tap the profile icon in the top right corner and choose Your profile. Use the Show name and picture to drop-down menu, and choose Only your contacts. You can even set it to No one if you want to keep your profile photo and name hidden entirely. Lock screen previews are a privacy risk I’m shocked Android does this by default Lock screen alerts are convenient, but they’re also a privacy risk. Almost anyone with physical access to your phone can see your incoming messages and even the sender names without unlocking it. That’s already bad enough, but it gets worse with OTPs and verification codes, which are essentially passwords sitting for anyone nearby to see. It’s also a security risk if you ever lose your phone. To change this, go to Messages Settings > Notifications > Behavior, sound and more and set Show or hide content when locked to Hide when locked. Your phone will still alert you about the message, but you’ll need to unlock your phone to actually see the message. While you’re at it, you should honestly do this for all your messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and all the others. They all default to showing too much.