How to Turn Off Gemini on Android: 4 Ways and One Trap

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Gemini appeared on phones without asking and for many people replaced Google Assistant, jumped onto the lock screen, or started opening when you hold the power button. You can reverse this, but you need to know one thing: simply uninstalling the app isn’t enough. Below are all the methods, in order, from simplest to most complex.

First, figure out what exactly you want to disable

People write “turn off Gemini” meaning four different things. Each has a different solution:

• Gemini as your assistant, the thing that opens when you hold the power button,
• Gemini on the lock screen, accessible without unlocking your phone,
• the app itself in your app drawer,
• AI in Google Search, meaning AI Overviews above search results. This is a separate issue and the hardest one.

Method 1: Switch back to Google Assistant

Open the Gemini app, tap your profile picture in the corner, select Switch to Google Assistant, then confirm in the dialog box.

Important warning: Google is removing this option. On many phones it simply no longer exists. If you don’t see it, don’t keep looking, just move on to method two.

Method 2: Change the default assistant in system settings

This works regardless of whether the option from method one still exists.

1. Go to your phone’s Settings.
2. Apps, then Default apps.
3. Digital assistant app, then Default digital assistant app.
4. Choose a different app or None.

If you can’t find this setting, and manufacturers like to hide it, search within Settings for digital assistant. On Samsung and Xiaomi phones the path may be different, but the setting name stays the same.

Choosing “None” means holding the power button will stop launching anything. For many people, this is exactly the desired outcome.

Method 3: Remove Gemini from your lock screen

Open Gemini, tap your profile picture, go to Settings, find Gemini on lock screen and disable Use Gemini without unlocking your device.

This setting is worth checking even if Gemini doesn’t bother you. An assistant accessible without unlocking your phone has access to some of your data, and your phone sits on your desk even when you’re not there.

Method 4: Delete the app, but not just the app

You uninstall the app like any other, by long-pressing the icon and selecting uninstall.

Here’s the trap that makes people return to search for solution two: removing the Gemini app doesn’t remove it from the default assistant role. Your phone keeps trying to launch it. If you’re uninstalling the app, do method two first, then uninstall.

What changes when you switch back to Assistant

Gemini also replaced Google Assistant on paired devices like watches and headphones. On smart speakers, displays, TVs and in cars, “OK Google” still triggers Assistant. This means after changing it on your phone you may have two different assistants in two different places, and this is not a bug.

How to turn off AI in Google Search

The answer here is inconvenient: there’s no switch that will remove AI Overviews from results. Google treats it as a regular search element, similar to knowledge panels, and didn’t provide a way to disable it.

However, there is an official workaround and it works well.

The “Web” filter. After searching for anything, click More above the results, then Web. You get just links, without AI Overviews and without the rest of the extras. On mobile this tab is sometimes hidden under a scrollable bar.

Permanently, without clicking every time. The “Web” filter is simply a parameter in the URL. You can set up a custom default search engine in your browser with this address:

https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14

From that point on, every search from the address bar lands directly in the view without AI. This is the most effective method that doesn’t require installing anything.

AI Mode is something different. AI Mode is a separate experiment in Search Labs and you can disable it there. If you don’t see the Labs icon at all, it means the experiment isn’t enabled for you and there’s nothing to turn off.

If you’re concerned about data, not the button

Some people want to disable Gemini not because it’s annoying, but because they don’t want to share data. That’s a different issue and you solve it elsewhere: in your Google account activity settings you can disable history saving. Google notes that aggregate and de-identified data may still be used to improve models.

Is it even worth disabling

Honestly: it depends what you do. If you only used Assistant for timers and alarms, Gemini is slower and more verbose, so the change makes sense. If you ask complex questions, Gemini answers noticeably better.

It’s also worth knowing that the free Gemini plan is unusually generous and includes things you pay for elsewhere. I detailed this in the Gemini pricing breakdown by plan, and students get the paid package for a year free, which I described in the article about Gemini for students.

What about Meta AI

Gemini isn’t the only assistant that appeared without asking. Meta inserted its own into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. What you can disable there and what you can’t, I described in the article about how to turn off Meta AI.

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More about AI Mode in Search

AI Mode is a separate feature from AI Overviews and many people confuse the two. How they differ and what you can do with them, I described on the page about AI Mode in Search.

Kinetyra