Learn AI over Tea
Menu
Path: AI on your phoneLesson 3 of 3

Phone AI and your privacy: settings to check

AI apps may save your chats, let people review some of them, or use them for training. Here are the settings that put you in control.

5 min readLast fact-checked: Oct 3, 2026Sources ↓

The short answer

When you chat with AI, the company may save your conversations, have people review some of them, and use them to improve its AI. You can’t avoid all of that, but a few settings put you back in control. And one rule matters more than any setting: don’t type anything you wouldn’t want a stranger to read.

1Never share secrets in a chat
2Turn off training, if you prefer
3Use temporary or incognito chats
4Check which apps use your mic and camera
Five minutes, once. Then you're set.

The golden rule: keep secrets out

Google’s own advice for Gemini is clear: “Please don’t enter confidential information that you wouldn’t want a reviewer to see.” [2] Google says a portion of Gemini chats are reviewed by human reviewers, including trained service providers. [2]

So never type or say:

  • Passwords or PIN codes
  • Bank, card or account numbers
  • Social Security, Aadhaar, passport or other ID numbers
  • Anything you’d be upset to see read by someone else

Settings to check in each app

These are the companies’ own setting names. Menus change often, so if you can’t find one, search the app’s help pages.

ChatGPT

  • Stop your chats being used for training: go to Settings, then Data controls, and turn off Improve the model for everyone. [1]
  • Temporary Chat: these chats don’t appear in your history and aren’t used to train OpenAI’s models, though OpenAI may keep them for up to 30 days for safety. [1]

Gemini

  • Gemini Apps Activity (“Keep Activity”): you can turn it off, or set chats to auto-delete after 3, 18 or 36 months. [2]
  • Even with Keep Activity off, Google says chats are kept with your account for 72 hours to respond to you and keep services safe, which can include human review. [2]

Claude

  • Model Improvement: in Claude’s Privacy settings, you choose whether your chats can be used to improve Claude. [3]
  • Incognito chats are not used to improve Claude, even if Model Improvement is on. [3]

Google Lens

Google saves your Lens searches to your account unless you turn off Web & App Activity or Visual Search History in your Google Account settings. [4]

On your phone itself

In your phone’s Settings, look for Privacy or Permissions, and check which apps are allowed to use your microphone, camera and location. If an app doesn’t need them, switch them off. You can always turn them back on.

Watch out

Privacy settings and policies change. These were checked on the date shown at the top of this page. If your app looks different, look for words like “data,” “privacy,” “activity” or “improve the model” in its settings.

Try it yourself

Take five minutes now. Open the AI app you use most, find its privacy or data setting from the list above, and decide whether you want your chats used for training. There’s no wrong answer; the point is that you choose.

You've got this
  • Never share passwords, account numbers or ID numbers with AI.
  • ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude all let you limit how your chats are used.
  • Temporary or incognito chats are the most private option.
AI on your phoneThe AI that's already on your phone5 min readAI on your phonePoint your camera, get answers5 min read
Was this page helpful?

Sources

  1. OpenAI Help Center — Data controls in ChatGPT— accessed Oct 3, 2026
  2. Google — Gemini Apps Privacy Hub— accessed Oct 3, 2026
  3. Anthropic Privacy Center — Is my data used for model training?— accessed Oct 3, 2026
  4. Google Search Help — Get info about your photos & surroundings (Google Lens activity)— accessed Oct 3, 2026

What changed

Oct 3, 2026: First published.