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The Gmail Three-Switch Privacy Check

By Nigel Guy · 7 min read

Most people who worry about what Google does with their inbox untick one box in Gmail's settings, feel reassured and move on. The trouble is that Gmail's data controls are split across three separate places, and the one you find first only covers part of it. The other two are a click further away and look like they belong to another product, so they rarely get checked. The result is that you think you have made a choice when you have made a third of one.

Before you start

One thing to know before you touch anything: in the UK, the European Economic Area, Switzerland and Japan, Google's help centre says smart feature settings are off by default. If you are in the UK and have never seen a prompt about them, they may already be off. If you ever clicked "turn on" in a pop-up, they are not. Do not assume either way; look.

Step 1 — Check "Smart features in Gmail, Chat and Meet"

This is the switch most people find. It controls whether Google uses your Gmail, Chat and Meet content to run personalised features inside those three apps.

1. Open Gmail on a computer.
2. Click Settings (the gear icon, top right), then See all settings.
3. Stay on the General tab and scroll to Smart features.
4. Tick or untick Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat and Meet.
5. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

What you lose when it is off, according to Google's help page: automatic sorting of mail into categories, Smart Compose (suggested text as you type), Smart Reply (the one-tap reply chips) and summary cards for things like trips and parcels.

Step 2 — Check the two Workspace switches

Directly below, on the same General tab, sits a second section that most people scroll past because it opens a separate panel.

1. Still in See all settings > General, find Google Workspace smart features.
2. Click Manage Workspace smart feature settings.
3. You will see two separate toggles:
   • Smart features in Google Workspace — lets Workspace apps (Gmail, Calendar, Drive and so on) use your Workspace data for features such as adding flight bookings from emails to Calendar, personalised Drive search, and Gemini summaries and drafts across Workspace.
   • Smart features in other Google products — lets products outside Workspace use that data, for example tickets and passes appearing in Google Wallet, suggestions in Maps, and what Google calls Personal Intelligence in Gemini and Search.
4. Set each one, then click Save.

These two are independent of each other and of Step 1. You can have Gmail's own smart features on and both of these off, or any other mix. The same panel is reachable from Calendar, Drive, Chat and Meet settings, but it is one setting: change it once and it applies everywhere.

Step 3 — Check Gemini's Connected Apps and Keep activity

The third place is not in Gmail at all. If you use the Gemini app, it can be connected to Gmail so it can search and summarise your mail when you ask. That connection is controlled from Gemini, not from Gmail.

1. Go to gemini.google.com and sign in with the same account.
2. Click Settings and help (bottom of the side panel), then Connected Apps.
3. Turn Gmail (and any other Google apps listed) on or off. Off disconnects it.
4. Separately, check Keep activity for Gemini at myactivity.google.com/product/gemini (also reachable from Gemini's settings).

Two details from Google's Gemini privacy help page are worth knowing before you decide. First, with Keep activity off, Connected Apps are not available on gemini.google.com or iPhone, so switching Keep activity off also cuts the Gmail connection there. Second, even with Keep activity off, Google says chats are kept with your account for 72 hours and may still be seen by human reviewers for safety purposes. With it on, the default auto-delete period is 18 months, which you can change to 3 or 36 months, or to never.

If you never use Gemini, you can still check this page: it takes thirty seconds and confirms nothing is connected.

Step 4 — The phone route (it changes the same settings)

You can do Steps 1 and 2 from the Gmail app. The settings are tied to your account, not the device, so a change on your phone applies to your computer too, and the other way round. Google notes that a change made on a computer may not show in an out-of-date app until you update it.

iPhone or iPad:

1. Open Gmail, tap Menu, then Settings.
2. Under General, tap Data privacy.
3. Turn Smart features on or off (this is Step 1).
4. Tap Google Workspace smart features, set the two toggles (this is Step 2), then tap Done.

Android:

1. Open Gmail, tap Menu, then Settings, then your account.
2. Under General, tick or untick Smart features.
3. Tap Google Workspace smart features and set the two toggles.

Labels on Android shift between app versions. If you cannot find them, use the computer route; the result is identical.

Check it worked

Fill in this card once you are done, and keep it somewhere you will find in six months.

Then reload Gmail. If you turned Step 1 off, the category tabs and Smart Compose suggestions should be gone. If they are still there, you probably forgot Save changes.

What to skip

• Skip the idea that one switch is the job. Step 1 alone leaves Calendar, Drive, Wallet and Gemini able to use your Workspace data if Step 2 is on.
• Skip switching everything off out of principle and then switching it all back on in irritation a week later. Decide what you actually use. If you rely on flights landing in Calendar automatically, that is the Workspace switch; you can keep it and still turn the other two off.
• Skip the viral claim that these switches stop Google "training AI on your emails". In November 2025 Google publicly denied using Gmail content to train its Gemini model, and said smart features personalise your own account rather than train public models. Treat that as Google's statement, not an independent audit, but it means these switches are about how your data is used for features, not a guaranteed off-switch for model training.
• Skip third-party "privacy cleaner" extensions that offer to do this for you. They need access to your account to work, which is the opposite of the point.

Guardrails

• Work and school accounts: your administrator may control these settings, and Gemini access, for the whole organisation. If a toggle is greyed out or missing, ask them; do not try to work around it.
• Turning off is not deleting. Google's help page says that switching smart features off stops future use, but learnings already developed from your data may persist. It does not delete emails or past activity.
• Menu labels move. Everything here was checked against Google's help centre on 4 October 2026. Google renames these settings fairly often, so if a label does not match, search the Gmail help centre for "smart features" rather than guessing.
• This is not a full privacy review. It covers what Gmail and Gemini do with your inbox content. Ads settings, Web & App Activity, location history and third-party apps with access to your Google account are separate; check those at myaccount.google.com.
• Set a reminder. Re-run the card every six months, or whenever Google announces a new AI feature in Gmail. New features sometimes arrive with new switches.

Sources

• Gmail Help: Manage smart features settings (computer)
• Gmail Help: Manage smart features settings (iPhone and iPad)
• Gmail Help: Manage smart features settings (Android)
• Gemini Apps Help: Connected Apps
• Gemini Apps Privacy Hub
• TechRadar: Google says Gmail isn't used to train Gemini

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