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To control Gemini, first identify the feature doing the work. Connected Apps permissions govern access to services such as Calendar or Photos; Android screen automation has a live progress view, a stop control, and per-app permissions; Spark tasks have their own work panel, browser takeover, and schedule controls; and Gemini in Chrome has a separate stop-browsing control. Gemini Apps Activity is a separate place to review or delete records, and disconnecting an app does not erase that history.
Feature names, eligibility, supported apps, device exclusions, and regional availability can change. Use the labels shown in your own account and supervise important tasks rather than assuming a confirmation prompt makes an action risk-free.
Find the control that matches the action
The fastest way to stop or audit Gemini is to match the visible behavior to its control surface. Use this map before changing settings:
| What Gemini is doing | Where the work occurs | Primary control | Control granularity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading or changing information through an integrated service | The connected service, such as a productivity, media, messaging, photo, or smart-home app | Connected Apps settings | Connection and supported-action level for the app |
| Tapping and reading screens in a supported Android app | An on-device virtual phone environment | View progress, Stop task, or Screen automation settings | One running task or one app’s permission |
| Carrying out a multi-step task or scheduled workflow | A Spark task workspace and, when needed, a remote browser | Task thread, work panel, schedule controls, or Take over task | One task, its schedule, or manual browser takeover |
| Browsing signed-in sites in Chrome | Your Chrome tab or a Gemini remote-browser session | Stop browsing or take over the browser | Current browsing activity or the whole task |
If a task is running now, use its live stop or takeover control first. Changing a connection or deleting activity is a separate administrative action and may not interrupt work already in progress.
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Control Connected Apps
What a Connected App connection permits
Gemini can use a connected app to answer questions and, where the integration supports it, perform actions. Examples documented by Google include searching or summarizing productivity content, creating calendar events, playing media, finding photos, messaging or calling on supported configurations, and controlling compatible smart-home devices. The exact action list belongs to each app’s details page; an integration can allow reading but not a particular change, or may be unavailable on your device, account, country, or language.
Do not infer that an app connection grants unlimited access. Gemini can only use the actions exposed by that integration, and Google lists unsupported actions. For example, the cited Connected Apps guidance says Gemini cannot create Gmail drafts or delete Gmail messages through Connected Apps.
Review an app before connecting it
- Open Gemini’s Connected Apps settings in the account and device where you plan to use the integration.
- Browse the available apps and open the individual details page.
- Read the supported and unsupported action list, including any account or device requirements.
- Connect only an app whose data and actions you are comfortable exposing to Gemini.
- After connecting, return to the same settings area periodically to confirm which apps remain connected.
A connected service may contain information that is more sensitive than the request you typed. Avoid connecting confidential material that you would not want handled under the service’s applicable review and retention processes.
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With a work or school account, Connected Apps access depends on a qualifying Google Workspace edition, administrator enablement, and, in the cited Google guidance, Keep Activity being turned on. An administrator can disable access even when the feature appears in consumer documentation. You can invoke a Workspace app by naming it in a prompt or by entering @ and selecting the app, but the resulting actions still depend on the administrator’s policy and the integration’s supported operations.
If an app is missing, an action is refused, or the @ picker does not show the service, ask the administrator which Workspace edition and Gemini settings apply. Do not treat a missing option as evidence that the app has been disconnected globally; policy, account type, region, and feature rollout can produce the same symptom.
Disconnecting an app is not deleting its history
Disconnect an app from Connected Apps settings when you no longer want Gemini to access it. That change governs future access through the integration. It does not delete Gemini Apps Activity that already records chats or interactions, and deleting Gemini activity does not delete data held in the connected service. If you need both outcomes, handle the connection and the service’s own data controls separately.
Monitor and stop Android screen automation
Android screen automation is different from a normal app connection. Gemini can interact with app screens inside an on-device virtual phone environment to complete a task. Because the task is operating a screen, watch the live progress rather than relying only on the final response.
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Open the live progress view
- Start from the Gemini chat that launched the task, or from the live update notification.
- Select View progress.
- Observe the current screen, the actions Gemini is attempting, and any request for confirmation or takeover.
- If the next action is not what you intended, stop or take control before allowing the task to continue.
Google says the feature is intended to request review and confirmation for some consequential actions, including sending communications or changing details. It may ask you to take over for passwords, payment information, sign-in, account creation, or transaction finalization. These safeguards do not guarantee that every risk or mistaken interpretation will be caught, so verify the destination, amount, recipient, and changed fields yourself.
Stop a running task
From the chat, choose Stop response, then Stop task. From the live update notification, choose Stop task. Stopping is the appropriate response when the task is taking an unintended path, exposing information to the wrong screen, or waiting for a confirmation you do not want to grant.
Stopping a task is not the same as deleting the conversation or its activity record. If the task has already completed an external action, stopping prevents further steps but cannot automatically undo what the app accepted. Check the app’s own history and use its undo or cancellation process where available.
Take over when Gemini reaches a sensitive step
Some Android tasks pause and ask you to take control. Use that handoff to enter credentials, payment information, or other secrets yourself and to inspect the final submission. Google notes that takeover is currently unavailable on Pixel 10 and Galaxy S26. On those devices, the available response is to stop the task rather than assume manual control inside the automation session.
Set a per-app screen automation permission
To decide how Gemini may use a particular Android app, open the Gemini mobile app and follow this path: Menu > profile picture or initial > Settings > Settings > Screen automation. Select an app and choose one of these permissions:
| Permission | What it means | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Always allow | Gemini may read and interact with that app’s screen without asking each time. | Only for a low-risk app and workflow that you actively supervise. |
| Ask every time | Gemini asks before using screen automation for the app. | The middle option when you want control at each task start. |
| Do not allow | Gemini cannot use screen automation with that app. | Apps containing credentials, financial information, private conversations, or other data you do not want automated. |
The permission allows Gemini to read and interact with the selected app’s screen. It is separate from a Connected Apps integration: denying screen automation does not necessarily disconnect an app’s supported API-style integration, and disconnecting an integration does not by itself change screen-automation permission.
Review and control Gemini Spark tasks
Spark tasks combine a task thread with a work panel that can show progress, schedules, permissions, files, and skills or apps. Use these controls when Gemini is carrying out a longer workflow rather than a single chat answer.
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Inspect a task’s plan and work
- Open the relevant Spark task thread.
- Read the displayed plan and current progress before approving a consequential step.
- Open the work panel to inspect the associated schedules, permissions, files, and skills or apps.
- Review which files Gemini read or updated and whether the task’s instructions still match your intent.
- Send an updated instruction in the task thread if the objective or boundary has changed.
Spark is designed to request confirmation before actions such as sending communications, modifying data, making purchases, submitting forms, or using Sign in with Google. It is also designed to show a plan and restrict browsing to task-relevant sites and actions. Those are product safeguards, not a promise that a plan is correct or that a malicious instruction on a webpage cannot influence the workflow. Read the proposed action before confirming it.
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When a Spark task is browsing, you can inspect the browser and work manually. In the mobile app, open the task work panel, choose Skills & apps > View remote browser > View live, then choose Take over task. In the web app, open Remote browser and take over from there. Select Go back to Gemini when you want Gemini to resume.
Use takeover for passwords, payment details, one-time codes, account recovery, or any final submission you want to review personally. Avoid entering those secrets directly into the task thread. If you stop only the browser activity, Gemini may try another tool or abandon that portion of the work; if you intend to cancel the entire Spark workflow, use the task’s own stop control as well.
Pause or resume a schedule
In the web app, schedules can be paused or resumed from the Schedules page. A schedule and the task it launches are separate control points: pausing future runs does not necessarily cancel a task already executing, and stopping one run does not automatically remove the schedule. Check both the running task thread and the Schedules page when you need a complete halt.
A scheduled task may run while you are offline, leaving less opportunity to see a prompt before an unintended action. Keep schedules limited to reversible, low-risk work and review their permissions and files in the work panel.
Check eligibility before troubleshooting
The cited Spark help material requires a personal Google Account, Google AI Pro or Ultra, and Keep Activity. It is not available with work or school accounts and, at the time described by Google, excluded the European Economic Area, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Availability can change, so verify the current account, subscription, country, language, and app version rather than assuming a missing Spark control is a bug.
Stop Gemini’s browser activity in Chrome
Gemini in Chrome can use signed-in sites and may share personal information with websites to complete a task. In the Gemini in Chrome panel, use the control to stop browsing when the current navigation is wrong or the next site is not appropriate. You can also take over the tab or browser to continue manually.
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Stopping browse activity may allow Gemini to try another tool or abandon only the browsing portion. It may not cancel a larger Spark task. For a full cancellation, stop the parent Spark task as well. Before allowing a consequential action, review Gemini’s proposed plan, the signed-in account, the target site, and the confirmation text.
Review or delete Gemini Apps Activity
What Activity settings control
Gemini Apps Activity is the account-level place to review and delete recorded Gemini activity, set auto-delete, and control whether future activity is used to improve Google AI. These settings are not a live stop button and do not control every kind of processing.
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Google’s Privacy Hub says that even with Keep Activity turned off, Google still uses chats to respond and to help protect Google, users, and the public, including through human review. Turning off or deleting activity therefore changes retention and improvement settings, but it does not make a chat disappear from every system at the moment you submit it.
Understand the two data stores
Connected services and Gemini Apps Activity keep separate records. Disconnecting an app does not delete the corresponding Gemini activity. Deleting Gemini activity does not delete data already stored in the connected service. To remove information from both places, use Gemini Apps Activity controls and the connected service’s own deletion tools.
Know what connected data may be reviewed
Google says a subset of Connected Apps data processed by Gemini may be reviewed by trained human reviewers to debug, improve, and help keep services safe. Google’s personalization explanation says it takes steps to disassociate and reduce personal information before review, with exceptions such as abuse or harm handling and feedback. Do not connect confidential information that you would not want a reviewer to see.
Google also states that it does not train generative models directly on a user’s Gmail inbox, Drive, Contacts, Calendar, Google Wallet or payments, or Photos library imagery and audio. However, summaries, excerpts, generated media, and inferences from relevant content may be used to produce responses and train models when the applicable activity settings are on. The distinction matters: a source library is not necessarily used directly for training, while content derived from it may be handled under the activity settings.
A practical supervision routine
- Identify the surface. Decide whether the action is a Connected App operation, Android screen automation, Spark task, or Chrome browsing.
- Set the narrowest permission. Prefer Ask every time over Always allow for Android screen automation, and disconnect integrations you no longer use.
- Read the plan or progress. Check the target app, account, files, recipient, amounts, and requested permissions.
- Keep secrets out of the task thread. Take over for passwords, payment information, sign-in, account creation, and transaction finalization.
- Confirm only the exact action you intend. A confirmation prompt is an opportunity to inspect the details, not a reason to approve automatically.
- Stop early when the path changes. Use Stop task, Stop browsing, or the parent task’s stop control before Gemini reaches another tool.
- Audit after completion. Check the external app’s history, Spark files and schedules, and Gemini Apps Activity according to the level of sensitivity.
- Delete in both places when required. Remove Gemini activity and use the connected service’s deletion controls separately.
Troubleshoot common control failures
The stop button is missing
Open the chat or live update notification that launched the action. Android automation exposes View progress and Stop task there; Spark exposes controls in its task thread or work panel; Chrome exposes stop browsing in the Gemini in Chrome panel. If the task is running under a schedule, open Schedules and pause the schedule in addition to stopping the current run.
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Gemini keeps using an app
For Android screen automation, open the Screen automation path and set that app to Do not allow. For an integration, disconnect the app from Connected Apps settings. These controls are independent, so apply the one matching the way Gemini accessed the app.
A work account cannot use the feature
Workspace administrators can disable Connected Apps, and Spark is described as unavailable for work or school accounts. Ask the administrator which edition and policies apply; switching personal and work profiles can change the available controls.
The feature is absent on a supported-looking device
Check country, language, account type, subscription, administrator policy, app version, and device model. Android screen automation is documented only for select apps, and takeover is currently unavailable on Pixel 10 and Galaxy S26. Spark’s listed exclusions and subscription requirements also apply. Product eligibility is not universal across devices with the same operating system.
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Deleting activity did not remove information elsewhere
That result is expected when the information also exists in a connected service. Delete the Gemini record through Gemini Apps Activity, then use the service’s own controls for messages, files, calendar entries, photos, or other content. Conversely, deleting the service record does not erase Gemini Apps Activity.
Availability and safety boundaries to verify
Google’s interfaces and policies are volatile. Before relying on a control, verify the account and device context in which the action will run:
- Personal account versus work or school account.
- Workspace edition and administrator enablement.
- Country or region, including the Spark exclusions described above.
- Device model, Android version, Gemini mobile-app version, and Chrome version.
- Language and the specific app integration or Android app being automated.
- Keep Activity status and any Google AI Pro or Ultra requirement for Spark.
- Whether the task is a one-time run or a schedule that can execute while you are offline.
Gemini can make mistakes. Treat live progress, plans, confirmations, and takeover as ways to reduce risk, not as guarantees. The safest default for sensitive apps is no screen automation, manual entry of secrets, and an explicit review of every external action.
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