If you connected Gmail or Google Photos to Google Search, Google can now use what it learns from them to choose the ads you see. The change sits in Google’s updated privacy policy, which took effect Oct. 16, 2026, and it reshapes how Google personalized ads work for anyone who switched on Personal Intelligence.
The short version
Google added one exception to its privacy policy on Oct. 16, 2026. If you linked Gmail or Google Photos to Search, summaries and conclusions drawn from them can now shape the ads Google shows you.
- Google’s old policy said it did not show personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail or Photos, with no exceptions.
- The new policy adds an exception for people who make that data available to other Google services that support personalized ads, such as Search.
- Google says advertisers never get access to your Gmail or Photos, and ads are not personalized using sensitive topics such as health or religion.
- Personal Intelligence is opt-in, so if you never connected your apps to Search, this change does not touch your ads.
- Disconnecting your apps does not delete your Search Services History, which you have to clear separately at activity.google.com.
What changed in Google’s privacy policy
Until this month, Google’s privacy policy made a flat promise: “We don’t show you personalized ads based on your content from Drive, Gmail, or Photos.” The version dated Oct. 1, 2026 still said exactly that.
The version that took effect Oct. 16 keeps that promise and adds a condition: “unless you choose to make data from these services available to other Google services that support personalized ads.” It also gives an example: “Search may process some of the data that you allow Search to access to personalize content, including ads.” You can read the current wording in Google’s privacy policy.
The change shows up in the policy itself, and Google’s policy archive lists Oct. 16 as the effective date of the new version.
What Google says it uses for ads, and what it does not
The details are on Google’s help page for connecting apps to Search. Here is what it says, in plain words:
- Ads are not based directly on your Gmail inbox or your Photos library.
- Summaries, excerpts and inferences (conclusions Google draws) from those apps may be used to personalize ads.
- Advertisers do not get access to your Gmail or Photos.
- Ads are not personalized using sensitive categories such as race, religion, sexual orientation or health.
What changes for you: Google will not hand an advertiser your emails, but a conclusion it draws from them can now help decide which ads you see. Your inbox has always known about that sneaker habit. Now your ads can be shaped by what Search learns from it, if you gave Search the key. Google has not said which kinds of conclusions feed its ads.
Who this affects
Only people who turned on Personal Intelligence in Search and connected their apps. Google launched Personal Intelligence in AI Mode in January 2026 as an opt-in Labs experiment for Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers.
Google’s help page adds the other conditions: you must be 18 or older, use a personal Google Account (not a work or school account), have Personalized Recommendations turned on and have pressed Connect next to your apps. If you never did that, Google’s original promise about Gmail and Photos still covers you.
How to check if Google personalized ads can use your Gmail and Photos
This takes about two minutes on a computer:
- Go to your Google Account at myaccount.google.com and open Data & privacy.
- Under Personalization & activity, select Personalization settings, then Manage Personalized Recommendations in Search services. This opens a page called Search Services Personalization.
- Find Additional Personal Intelligence, then Connected Content Apps. When we checked an account that never had Personal Intelligence, this section did not appear at all. If you don’t see it, you have nothing to disconnect.
- If Google Workspace (which includes Gmail) or Google Photos shows as connected, disconnect it.
- To stop Search personalization altogether, turn off Personalized Recommendations on the same page.
- In Gmail on a computer, open Settings, then See all settings. On the General tab, select Manage Workspace smart feature settings, turn off Smart features in other Google products and select Save.
Want fewer personalized ads everywhere on Google? Open My Ad Center at myadcenter.google.com and turn personalized ads off. You will still see ads, but Google says your info is then not used to personalize ads on its sites, such as Search and YouTube.
What disconnecting does not delete
Disconnecting an app does not erase your Search Services History, the record of what you asked Search and what it answered. Google says that history can still be used to improve its products. You can review and delete it at activity.google.com.
Google also says Search does not train its AI models directly on your Gmail inbox, but summaries and conclusions drawn from connected apps may be used to improve its services, including its AI, and human reviewers may see some of it. Google’s own advice: don’t connect apps that hold personal or confidential information. That was true before the ads change, and it is worth knowing before you reconnect anything.
What we don’t know yet
- Which conclusions from Gmail or Photos turn into ad interests. Google has not published a list.
- Whether the change will reach other Google apps. The policy wording covers “other Google services that support personalized ads”, which is wider than Search.
- How long a conclusion drawn from your inbox stays tied to your ads after you disconnect.
If you turned on Personal Intelligence for smarter answers, the deal is now clearer: better answers, plus ads shaped by the same data. Check your connected apps today and decide if that trade still works for you. While you are in your settings, it is a good week to limit how ChatGPT ads find you, stop your smart TV from tracking what you watch and lock down every account you own.
