How to get Gemini out of Google Docs, Photos, and more

• How to disable “Smart features” in Google Workspace
• How to get Al out of Chrome
• How to disable Gemini in Google photos
• Your old Google apps are still there

Gemini touches just about all of Google’s most important apps and services, and any of the ones it doesn’t, it seems like it will soon. Google pitches its AI assistant as a productivity booster in just about every place you can encounter it, whether it’s analyzing your writing in Google Docs or offering to create images for you in Google Slides, but that doesn’t mean Google isn’t heavy-handed with how it offers to use AI.

That can make things tricky if you’re not interested in Gemini, or aren’t comfortable with the compromises in quality that come with the current wave of generative AI-enabled software. If you find Google’s nagging insistence that you use Gemini annoying, there is a way to remove Gemini from all your Google apps and services if you want to. Here’s how you can go about turning off Gemini in Workspace apps, Chrome, and Google Photos.

How to disable “Smart features” in Google Workspace

Removing Gemini will also disable things like smart suggestions

You can disable Gemini in Workspace in several places across Google’s apps and services, but the most straightforward are Gmail and Google Drive. While you’re logged in to your Google account:

1. Open Google Drive (drive.google.com).
2. Click on Settings (the gear icon in the top-right corner).
3. Click on Privacy in the sidebar menu.
4. Click on Manage Workspace smart feature settings.
5. Toggle Smart features in Google Workspace and Smart features in other Google products to off.

While you should be covered with these both off, the toggles themselves cover several different implementations of AI features in Google apps, so it’s worth breaking them down more specifically.

• Smart features in Google Workspace: This toggle controls Gemini in Workspace apps, specifically, the Al’s ability to “summarize content, create drafts, and find key information”
• Smart features in other Google products: This toggle controls Gemini’s ability to connect to apps that use Workspace data like Google Wallet or Maps

You don’t need to disable both if you’re only worried about Workspace apps, but turning both off will get you the closest to completely severing Gemini from your Google account. Even with both toggles disabled, you’ll still be able to see the Gemini button and menus in certain apps, but they won’t do anything until you agree to re-enable smart features. For Google’s other popular apps, the process is a little bit different.

How to get Al out of Chrome

Google is increasingly making Gemini a big part of its browser experience

Google has big plans to let Gemini use Chrome on your behalf and has even started rolling out a Gemini button for easy access to chats with Al in the browser. Those features aren’t widely available, however. The AI features almost everyone has now are natural language search for your browser history and generative writing tools, and both are easily disabled.

From a new Chrome window:

1. Click on the three-dot menu in the top right corner of your browser window.
2. Click on Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click on Al innovations.
4. Click History search, powered by Al and toggle it off.
5. Go back and click on Help me write and toggle Offer writing help to off.

With both features disabled, Gemini will not be able to generate text for you on the fly or make it easier to find old tabs. The Al assistant will still be a few clicks away in Google Search’s AI Mode feature, though. And in Chrome, accessing that is as simple as typing something in your address bar. Still, every bit helps.

How to disable Gemini in Google photos

Gemini is a new addition to the gallery app

Through the Ask Photos feature in Google Photos, you can use Gemini to search for images and answer questions about the photos in your library. Google’s demos even say you can use your images to answer more unexpected questions, like finding your license plate number in a photo of your car.

You really don’t have to use Gemini to get utility out of all of Google’s current apps and services.

While Google Photos is available on the web, the feature can only be disabled in the Google Photos mobile app.

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Tap on your profile picture, then Google Photos settings in the menu that appears.
3. Tap on Preferences.
4. Tap on Gemini features.
5. Toggle Use Gemini in photos to off.

Google photos should then revert to its normal suite of features. Even the menu bar will change to remove the Ask Photos tab.

Your old Google apps are still there

Google has thankfully made most Gemini features optional

You really don’t have to use Gemini to get utility out of all of Google’s current apps and services. Google makes you work for that Al-free experience, but if you’re not comfortable with the energy Al uses, how it’s trained, or if you just find the features lackluster, they can be disabled. The same goes for things like AI Overviews in Google Search too, though you’d best follow Pocket-lint’s guide to make sure you do it right.