Re: Google nag to turn Discover on

On Thu, 20 Mar 2025 11:19:16 -0700, Stan Brown wrote:

 
Google Pixel 8a phone, Android 15
 
 
I've had this phone since the first week of December, and one of the
first things I did was to turn off Discover. I can live quite well
without being served up clickbait in "my" feed, which was created by
Google not me.
 
Google's retaliation: About one time in three when I tap any icon to
open an app, instead of getting whatever I tapped for, I get a panel
brusquely telling me to turn Discover back on. I swipe right and
retap the icon I wanted.
 
This is annoying. Is there a way to turn off not only Discover but
the nags to turn it on? I couldn't find anything in settings for the
phone or for the Google app.

I googled when I first noticed this problem a few weeks ago, but came
up empty. I tried again, after posting my followup to Vanguard's
article, and this time I got some ideas from this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_ubt2sFO1A

1. Long-press on the home screen -- not Google's home screen, the
phone's home screen. Tap "Home settings".

2. Disable "Swipe to access Google app". (I tend to slide a little
bit when tapping on my phone screen, so maybe I'd been unknowingly
swiping enough to open the Google app a third of the time.)

At the end of the video, it suggested getting rid of the "Turn on
Discover" screen, which is what I want to do, by turning off
(disabling) the Google app. This page

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/197532/what-happens-if-i-disable-google-app

answers the question "does anything else stop working if I disable
the Google app? (Spoiler alert: nothing I care about losing.)

To disable any app, including the Google app, long-press its icon and
select "App info" then Disable. (I also tapped "Force stop", because
why not?)

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA         https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...