Use the control for the feature that is actually acting. Connected Apps settings manage permissions to services such as Calendar or Photos; Android screen automation has a live progress view, stop command, takeover controls and per-app permissions; Spark tasks expose a work panel, schedules and a remote-browser takeover; Gemini in Chrome has its own stop and takeover controls. Review Gemini Apps Activity separately because disconnecting an app does not erase activity already stored there.
The labels and eligibility described below reflect Google Help and Privacy Hub material accessed October 13, 2026. Google changes availability and interfaces by account, device, app version, language and country, so treat the exact labels on your screen as authoritative.
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First identify which Gemini feature is acting
The fastest way to stop an unwanted action is to identify where the work is happening. A request that uses a connected service has different controls from a task that taps through an Android app, a scheduled Spark workflow or a browser session.
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| Surface | Where the work occurs | Primary controls | Important eligibility or exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connected Apps | A connected service, such as a productivity, media, photo, messaging or smart-home app | Browse supported actions, connect or disconnect the app, and review its permission details | Support varies by app, device, country and other conditions; Workspace access can require administrator enablement and a qualifying edition |
| Android screen automation | A selected Android app through an on-device virtual phone environment | View progress, Stop response > Stop task, notification stop control, takeover when offered, and per-app permission settings | Available only for select apps and configurations; the permission lets Gemini read and interact with the app screen |
| Spark tasks and schedules | A task thread, work panel, remote browser and, when configured, a scheduled workflow | Inspect the plan and progress, update instructions, take over the browser, and pause or resume schedules | The cited help page requires a personal Google Account, Google AI Pro or Ultra and Keep Activity on; it excludes work or school accounts and listed the EEA, Nigeria, Switzerland and United Kingdom as unavailable at that time |
| Gemini in Chrome auto-browse | Signed-in websites in a Chrome tab or browser session | Stop browsing in the Gemini in Chrome panel or take over the tab or browser | Gemini may share personal information with a site to complete a task; review its plan and confirmations |
These surfaces can overlap. For example, a Spark task may open a remote browser, while Android screen automation is limited to the app-screen task shown in the Gemini mobile app. If the wrong control is missing, look for the surface that created the task rather than repeatedly pressing a stop button in another interface.
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Control Connected Apps before Gemini can use them
What a connection permits
Connected Apps let Gemini use information from another service to answer a request and, where supported, perform an action with your permission. Depending on the app and configuration, examples include searching or summarizing productivity content, creating a calendar event, playing media, finding photos, messaging or calling, and controlling compatible smart-home devices. The app’s details page is the source of truth for supported and unsupported actions; the list is not a promise that every action works on every device or in every country.
For a work or school account, an administrator may need to enable the integration, your Workspace edition must qualify, and the cited guide says Keep Activity must be on. You can address a Workspace app by naming it in a request or by typing @ and choosing the app. An administrator can disable access even when the app appears in other users’ settings.
Browse and change a connection
- Open Gemini’s Connected Apps settings. The available-app list and each app’s details page show what Gemini can and cannot do in your configuration.
- Open the app you are considering and read the supported-actions description before connecting it. Check whether the action involves reading content, changing content, sending a communication or controlling a device.
- Connect only the apps needed for the request. If an app is already connected, use the same details page to review its access or disconnect it.
- After connecting, give Gemini a narrow instruction and watch the confirmation or result. A successful connection does not turn every natural-language request into a supported action.
One concrete limitation in Google’s cited Workspace guidance is that Connected Apps cannot create Gmail drafts or delete Gmail messages. If Gemini says it cannot perform an action, do not assume that reconnecting Gmail will grant that capability; check the current app details page instead.
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Disconnecting an app prevents future use through that connection, subject to the service’s own controls, but it does not delete Gemini Apps Activity that already contains chats or action records. Conversely, deleting Gemini activity does not delete data already held by the connected service. To remove information from both places, use the connected service’s deletion controls and Gemini Apps Activity controls separately.
Stop or take over Android screen automation
Watch a running task
Android screen automation completes a task by interacting with app screens in an on-device virtual phone environment. When it is running, open View progress from the Gemini chat or from the live-update notification. The progress view lets you see what screen Gemini is using and whether it has paused for your input.
Stop the task immediately
- In the Gemini chat, choose Stop response, then Stop task.
- If you are watching the live notification, choose Stop task there.
- After stopping, check the target app itself. A partially completed action may have changed data before the stop arrived, so verify drafts, messages, bookings or settings in that app.
Stopping is the reliable option when you do not want the task to continue. Some tasks pause and ask you to take control for a sensitive step instead of completing it automatically.
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Take over when Gemini asks for a human
Google says the feature may ask you to take over for passwords, payment information, sign-in, account creation or transaction finalization. It also aims to request review and confirmation for consequential changes, including sending communications or changing details. Follow the takeover prompt, enter sensitive information yourself, and return control only after the step is complete.
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Set a per-app permission
- Open the Gemini mobile app.
- Choose Menu, then your profile picture or initial.
- Open Settings, choose Settings again if that second level appears, and select Screen automation.
- Select the app you want to control.
- Choose one of the available permissions: Always allow, Ask every time or Do not allow.
Always allow gives Gemini ongoing permission to read and interact with that app’s screen. Ask every time is the middle setting: Gemini can request access for an individual task, but it cannot silently reuse the permission for every future task. Do not allow blocks screen automation for that app. The permission concerns screen reading and interaction; it does not by itself erase data that the app or Gemini already stored.
Supervise consequential work
Google describes confirmations and takeover prompts as safeguards, not guarantees. Monitor important tasks, read the exact confirmation text and inspect the final state in the app. A screen can contain misleading instructions or unexpected content, so do not approve a step merely because Gemini reached it. If the requested action involves money, identity, a legal commitment or an external communication, use manual takeover or perform the action yourself.
Review and control Spark tasks and schedules
Inspect the task thread and work panel
Open the relevant Spark task thread and its work panel. The panel can show the plan, progress, associated schedules, permissions, files and skills or apps. Use the thread to give Gemini updated instructions while the task is active. Inspect the files Gemini read or updated, and check the schedule attached to the task before allowing it to run again.
For a one-off task that is moving in the wrong direction, update the instruction or take control of the browser. For a recurring task, changing the instruction does not replace checking whether the schedule itself should remain active.
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Take over a remote browser
- In the mobile app, open the task work panel and choose Skills & apps > View remote browser > View live.
- Choose Take over task when you want to operate the site yourself.
- Complete passwords, payment details or other private fields directly on the site, not in the task thread.
- Choose Go back to Gemini when you are ready to return control.
In the web app, open Remote browser, take over the session, and use the control to return to Gemini when finished. Spark is designed to request confirmation before sending communications, modifying data, making purchases, submitting forms or using Sign in with Google. Read the proposed plan and confirm only the specific action you intend.
Pause a schedule
In the web app, open the Schedules page and pause the schedule you do not want to run. Resume it there when the task is ready. The exact schedule controls can vary by interface, so verify the status in the task’s work panel as well as on the Schedules page.
A scheduled task may run while you are offline, leaving less opportunity to stop an unintended action before it reaches a site. For workflows involving purchases, messages or account changes, schedule only the preparation step and reserve the final submission for a time when you can supervise it.
Check whether Spark is available to you
The cited Spark help material describes a personal Google Account, Google AI Pro or Ultra and Keep Activity on as requirements. It says Spark is not available with work or school accounts and, at the time described, excluded the European Economic Area, Nigeria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Availability can change, so confirm the current account and region before troubleshooting a missing work panel or schedule.
Stop Gemini’s browser activity in Chrome
Gemini in Chrome can use signed-in sites and may share personal information with those sites to complete a task. It aims to ask for review or confirmation before certain actions, but you remain responsible for the result.
- Open the Gemini in Chrome panel while the browse task is running.
- Choose the panel’s stop-browsing control to halt the current browser activity, or choose the option to take over the tab or browser.
- If you take over, inspect the page, remove or correct any entries and complete sensitive fields yourself.
- Check the Spark task separately if the Chrome session was launched by Spark. Stopping browse activity can allow Gemini to try another tool or abandon that part of the task; it is not always the same as cancelling the entire Spark task.
Review the plan before approving a form submission, purchase, message or account change. A signed-in browser session gives the task access to whatever the site makes available to that account, so use a separate browser profile or sign out when the task should not see personal data.
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Review Gemini Apps Activity and privacy settings
What Activity controls cover
Gemini Apps Activity settings let you review and delete activity, choose an auto-delete period and control whether future activity is used to improve Google AI. These settings are separate from Connected Apps permissions and from records held by the connected service.
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Understand human review and connected data
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. Its personalization explanation says Google takes steps to disassociate and reduce personal information before review, with exceptions such as abuse or harm handling and user feedback. Do not connect confidential information that you would not want a reviewer to see.
Interpret the training language precisely
Google states that it does not train generative models directly on a user’s Gmail inbox, Drive, Contacts, Calendar, Google Wallet or payments data, or the imagery and audio in a Photos library. That does not mean connected-app information is never used for model improvement. 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. Read the current setting description for your account before connecting a sensitive source.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A control routine that works across features
Before starting
- Identify the surface: Connected App, Android screen automation, Spark, or Chrome.
- Remove connections and screen permissions that are broader than the task requires.
- Read the app or site’s supported-actions description and note any administrator or regional restriction.
- Keep passwords, payment details, identity documents and final approval steps for manual entry.
- For recurring work, inspect the schedule and decide when you will be online to supervise it.
While Gemini is working
- Watch the progress view, work panel or Chrome panel rather than leaving a consequential task unattended.
- Compare each proposed action with your original instruction before confirming.
- Stop the task or take over at the first unexpected site, app, recipient, amount or data change.
- Do not follow instructions displayed inside a webpage or app merely because Gemini encountered them; treat them as untrusted task content.
After it finishes or stops
- Verify the final state in the external app or website, including recipients, amounts, dates and changed settings.
- Review files Gemini read or updated in the Spark work panel.
- Check Gemini Apps Activity if you need to retain, delete or auto-delete the conversation and action record.
- Remember that deleting Gemini activity and deleting the connected service’s data are separate operations.
Troubleshoot missing controls and unexpected behavior
There is no “View progress” button
That control belongs to Android screen automation. If the task is a Connected App request, Spark workflow or Chrome browse session, open the corresponding settings, work panel or Chrome panel instead. Screen automation is also limited to select Android apps and configurations.
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The takeover option is absent on Android
Check the device first: Google’s cited guidance says takeover is unavailable on Pixel 10 and Galaxy S26, where stopping the task is the available protective action. On other devices, the task may simply be waiting for a takeover prompt or may not support takeover for that step.
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Stopping Chrome did not cancel everything
Stopping browse activity can cause Gemini to try another tool or abandon only the browser portion. If Spark created the task, open its task thread or work panel and use the task’s own stop or schedule control as well.
An app is missing from Connected Apps
Availability can depend on the app, device, country, language, account type and administrator policy. For a Workspace account, confirm that the edition qualifies, the administrator has enabled access and Keep Activity meets the cited requirement. The app details page may also show that the requested action is unsupported.
Activity remains after disconnecting an app
This is expected when you have only removed the connection. Disconnecting does not delete Gemini Apps Activity, and deleting Gemini activity does not remove records in the connected service. Use each product’s deletion controls for the records you want removed.
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Open the task thread, work panel and external service to reconstruct what happened. Pause the schedule before making further changes, then review files, messages, forms or transactions for partial completion. For future runs, keep final submissions manual and schedule only reversible preparation steps.
What “control” can and cannot guarantee
These controls give you several intervention points: app-level connection management, per-app Android permissions, live stop and takeover commands, browser takeover and schedule pause. They do not make Gemini infallible. Google’s own help material warns that Gemini can make mistakes, and confirmation prompts or site restrictions do not eliminate erroneous actions, misleading page content or prompt-injection risks. The safest pattern is least-privilege access, continuous review of consequential steps and a final check in the service that was changed.
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