It was bundled as part of either a system or security update.

This is brilliant, I dedicate that to "updates good" crowd.

If your phone is unaltered in any way, absolutely nothing you do on it is private, even turned off.

Sweating over one app when your entire phone is the posterboy for spyware? lol

edit: "nice downvotes!" ~ Google

Same, but somehow there was a warning and a possibility to switch back to Google assistant instead, which I did

I don't even have a Gemini app installed in the first place.

Me on my de-googled phone:

For those on Pixel devices, check out GrapheneOS. If not CalyxOS or LineageOS

Its important that we have devices that we control. If your phone doesn't allow bootloader unlock so you can install a different operating system, that's a problem. Claims that security is compromised if bootloaders can be unlocked are just companies using a convenient excuse to maintain control over a device you paid for.

I'm rather confused. I don't have any app called Gemini installed, but despite this "Hey Google" brings up Gemini. So I have no app to disable, and no way to turn off interaction with other apps. This is on a Samsung A55 in Europe, happily taking advice on how to proceed.

Pro tip: you can probably uninstall Gemini via ADB. Android won't let you uninstall it using your phone's UI, but since it's just another package you can probably use the old ADB tricks to wipe it from your phone. Use your favorite search engine to figure out how, it's not exactly a secret.

I have stock android on a pixel and was able to just uninstall it. So it's not all devices at least

Yeah, and it's presumptious of them to access the WhatsApp account I don't have...

Cool, the app that doesn't exist on my phone will access an account I don't have. I've never used WhatsApp and I don't plan to start now.

Why are you being downvoted for this? In stock devices the user has no way to even start looking at what is being run. All you can do is trust the manufacturer.

My four year old low-end test device running Android had its assistant switched out from Google Assistant to Gemini. I was very surprised since I'd assumed that the vendor had stopped supporting it since it was so cheap, but it updated anyway.

Installed automatically on latest android version, can't be uninstalled

Google Play is separate from Android. Google likely updates it through that route, rather than relying on manufacturers.

Because it's worth plugging up some privacy holes even if you can't get all of them. Google already knows my name, address, and phone number, but that's no reason to let 5th Edition Character Sheet learn it too. They already have gigabytes of personally identifiable data on me, doesn't mean I'm cool with them bumping that up to terabytes

The whole reason GrapheneOS develops only for Pixels is that you can relock the bootloader though, right? (Along with other security features)

Anyway yeah companies still suck for not letting you relock them.

It keeps changing back to Gemini on its own for me even if I don't use the assistant at all.

I don't believe that's a pixel specific benefit but yes relocking the bootloader is best for security. The unlocking process is needed to install an alternative OS though.

Or if you prefer GUI on device apps, Shizuku and then use Cantata