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Google can now read your WhatsApp messages

(www.neowin.net)
467 points bundie | 1 comments | 08 Jul 25 16:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.375s | source
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jeroenhd ◴[08 Jul 25 17:20 UTC] No.44502053[source]▶
Google has been working on this since November last year going by the wayback archive of the support page for this feature.

I'm not seeing any indication that Gemini can read your messages, though. You can compose messages and start calls, but I can't get it to read me any of my messages. In fact, I can't even get it to send messages to group chats, only to individual contacts.

The feature makes a lot of sense, of course. WhatsApp is to many countries across the globe what texting and calling is to Americans. If your smart assistant can't even interact with WhatsApp, it's basically useless for many people.

Edit: ah, that explains why I can't make Gemini read my messages to me, Google's own documentation (https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/15574928) says it can't:

    What Gemini can’t do with WhatsApp
    
        Read or summarize your messages
        Add or read images, gifs, or memes in your messages
        Add or play audio or videos in your messages
        Read or respond to WhatsApp notifications
If you connected Google Assistant to WhatsApp, it seems like data may flow that direction, but then you've already hooked WhatsApp into Google before so I don't think anyone will be surprised there.

Does anyone know how I can make Gemini read messages? I can't even find the assistant settings necessary for that stuff to function.

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Hizonner ◴[08 Jul 25 17:43 UTC] No.44502286[source]▶
What Gemini should be able to do with WhatsApp:

    Exactly and only what any other random app on the phone could do
    with WhatsApp, assuming that you have enabled that in exactly the
    way you would have to enable any other random app to do it.
Google needs to not be abusing its position as the source of the OS to give its software special privilege to reach inside of third-party apps.
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lern_too_spel ◴[08 Jul 25 17:53 UTC] No.44502376[source]▶
> Google needs to not be abusing its position as the source of the OS to give its software special privilege to reach inside of third-party apps

Gemini uses the same APIs and permissions as any other Android app.

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lern_too_spel ◴[08 Jul 25 19:07 UTC] No.44503009[source]▶
This is trivial to verify. Just look at the permissions requested by the Google app like I did.
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1. jeroenhd ◴[09 Jul 25 08:56 UTC] No.44507728[source]▶
Google Gemini shares a namespace with system-level components. You can't just take the APK and check the permissions in it to verify Google's access, you'd also need to go through Play Services, AI Core, and all the other auxiliary Android components to be sure.

Without details on how Gemini is interacting with WhatsApp, it's hard to say if Google is privileged or not. It's possible Facebook just struck a deal with Google.