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Google may use Gmail and Photos for ads: how to opt out

Google may use Gmail and Photos for ads: how to opt out

Oct 25, 2026

In its October 1 version, Google’s privacy policy had a plain sentence: “We don’t show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos.” In the version in force since October 16, 2026, the sentence got a new ending: “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.”

Android Authority spotted the change, and Ars Technica and Brazil’s Estadão covered it on October 23. It matters because most people keep things in Gmail and Google Photos they would never show an advertiser: bookings, receipts, medical results, family photos. The feature that builds this bridge is already live in many countries, Brazil included.

First: what Personal Intelligence is

That is Google’s name for the feature that lets Search (in AI Mode, the search that answers with AI-written text), Maps and Gemini look into your other Google apps. Picture an assistant who checks your inbox before answering. Google’s own example: you ask for restaurant ideas, and AI Mode finds your hotel booking in Gmail to suggest places nearby.

In practice, the system does the looking, not a person. It pulls what looks relevant to your question and produces summaries, snippets and inferences (conclusions drawn from the data, such as “this person is traveling next week”). The comparison breaks down at one point: that material does not stay inside the answer. It can feed other things, and that is where ads come in.

What changed, in Google’s words

In an October 16 note on its blog, Google says that if users turn these features on, data from connected apps is used to personalize other experiences and, depending on settings, “that same subset of data can also be used to show ads.”

Google stresses three points. Connecting apps is opt-in. Ads will not be based “directly” on your inbox or photo library, according to a company statement to Ars Technica. And two policy rules stay: no personalized ads based on sensitive categories such as race, religion, sexual orientation or health, and no sharing your name or email with advertisers unless you ask.

What else comes with it

Google’s help page lists other effects. Summaries, snippets and inferences from your email and photos can be used to train Google’s generative AI models. Some of those interactions are read by human reviewers, including contractors. Google says it reduces personal information first, but advises against connecting apps that hold data you do not want used this way.

One more detail: disconnecting does not delete what is already in your Search Services History. That data can still be used to improve the product. To delete it, go to activity.google.com.

How to check and turn it off

We have not tested these steps. They combine Google’s help page with guides from Android Authority and Estadão.

  1. Open your Google Account and go to Data & privacy.
  2. Under “Personalization & activity,” open Personalization settings.
  3. Go to Manage Personalized Recommendations in Search Services.
  4. Find Connected Content Apps under Additional Personal Intelligence. If you see “Connect” next to Google Workspace and Google Photos, that usually means they are not on.
  5. If they show as connected, disconnect Google Workspace (which includes Gmail) and Google Photos.
  6. Want to cut it all? Turn off Personalized Recommendations on the same page.
  7. In Gemini, check the Connected Apps settings too.
  8. To clear what was already saved, delete your history at activity.google.com.

It is worth checking even if you think you never turned it on. Ars Technica says Google uses prompts and pop-ups to nudge people into enabling it without fully explaining the consequences.

What we don’t know yet

Google’s help page says the Google Photos connection works “only in some regions,” without listing them. We found no numbers on how many people have turned the feature on. And so far no source has looked at the change under Brazil’s data protection law (LGPD), which gives people the right to know how their data is used. We will keep watching.

Bottom line: your email and photos only count if you connect the apps. Whether smarter AI search is worth that is your call. If it is not, the settings above fix it in a few minutes.

Sources

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