Re: Google nag to turn Discover on

Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:
 

Since your phone likely connects to your Google account, go to
google.com (and signin), click your account picture, More settings, and
then Other settings.  Disable "Show Discover on home page."

 
I don't have such a setting under Other Settings, neither in a web
browser nor in the Google app, and entering it in the settings search
box didn't find it. The web browser version doesn't even have
Discover under Other Settings (or anywhere else that I could readily
see). Under Other Settings in the app, Discover (which, as I said, is
turned off) there is an explanation "You'll see stories related to
your interest on the home tab of the app."

In a web browser:
- Visit google.com. 
- Login. 
- Click on the user icon (top right corner of web page). 
- In the popup dialog, click on "More settings" (lower left corner of
  dialog). 
- In the left pane, click on "Other settings". 
- Under the Desktop section, disable the "Show Discover on home page". 

I don't see how you could have a different web page than anyone else
that logs into their Google account to review settings.  You did login,
right to then view your Google account settings, right?

After logging in, and clicking on the account icon, I see:
https://imgur.com/a/FzoapeI

After clicking on More settings, I see:
https://imgur.com/a/rEJ5PfN

I only mention the server-side account settings since tis possible the
Google app is connecting to your Google account from your phone.  Do you
have a Google account defined on your phone?  Likely yes.  On the phone,
look under Accounts to see which ones you have defined.

While Android apps may connect using only the app, some apps will still
fallback to using the default web browser.  On your phone, which web
browser is the default one?  Regardless of how you think or wish the
bank and library apps to behave, have you contacted your bank and
library to check they NEVER fallback to a web browser.  Just because the
window doesn't look like a web browser doesn't mean it isn't one.  Lots
of web-centric apps want you to believe all their screens are presented
by the apps, not using a web browser as a helper app. 

Alas, the normal contacts at the bank and library are ignorants.  They
have no expertise in how their apps function, so you'd only know if they
escalate the trouble ticket to their dev or web design folks.

You may not be able to uninstall the Google app using normal means, but
you could go into Apps to disable it to see if the problem goes away.

With all the AI shit that Google, phone makers, and web browser authors
(and app devs) want to shove at you, maybe this is a "feature" of some
AI function.  There are lots of online articles on how to disable AI in
Android, but navigation through the settings may vary by brand and model
of phone, so include your phone's brand and model in a search.  My phone
is too old to have all this AI crap.

https://medium.com/@innovirtuoso/how-to-completely-turn-off-google-ai-on-your-android-phone-d1a17f12efe2