Brello vs Google Gemini: where your questions go

At a glance

Brello 1.0 and the Gemini app differ in where a question is processed and in what Google keeps, reviews and trains on.

Where your question is processed

Brello 1.0 processes your question on the phone. The Gemini app sends it to Google, which says it relies on its own services and infrastructure to answer.

In Brello 1.0, the prompt goes only to the on-device runtime, Google’s LiteRT-LM, which runs one of three downloaded models on the phone’s GPU, or on its CPU when the GPU isn’t available: Brello Pro, based on Gemma 4 E4B by Google; Brello Vision, based on Gemma 4 E2B by Google; or Brello Core, based on Qwen3 1.7B by Alibaba. All three are released under Apache 2.0, and Brello isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Google or Alibaba. Photos are copied into Brello’s private app storage and never uploaded, and the app has no location permission. There is no Brello server, proxy or relay. The one exception, web search, is covered below.

Google’s Gemini Apps Privacy Notice lists what it collects, including “what you say to Gemini Apps (like the prompts you submit or speak, and tasks you ask Gemini to do for you)” and “what you share with Gemini Apps (like files, videos, screens you ask about, photos, imported chats, and page content you share from your browser)”. It says: “We rely on other Google services and infrastructure to provide Gemini Apps.” When Gemini works with a third-party service through Connected Apps, that service processes your data “according to their own privacy policies”.1

Location is part of the picture. Google says that by default, Gemini Apps “use the general area from your IP address or the Home or Work addresses in your Google Account” to answer prompts such as weather questions, and process precise location from your device with your permission.1 For the general difference between cloud and on-device assistants, see on-device AI, explained.

Gemini Apps Activity: what is kept, and for how long

With Keep Activity on, Google stores Gemini activity in your Google Account and deletes it after 18 months unless you change the period. With Keep Activity off, Google still keeps chats with your account for 72 hours.

Google says that “if you’re 18 or over, Keep Activity is on by default”, and that “by default, your Gemini Apps activity older than 18 months is auto-deleted”; you can choose 3 or 36 months instead, or turn auto-delete off.2 The Privacy Hub says saved activity “also includes audio, Gemini Live videos and screenshares, feedback, info from websites you visit with Gemini, product usage, and location info”, and that Google keeps some data until you delete your Google Account, “such as information about how often you use Gemini Apps”.1

Turning Keep Activity off doesn’t mean nothing is kept: “Even when Keep Activity is off, your conversations will be saved with your account for up to 72 hours to allow Google to provide the service and process any feedback.”2 The Privacy Hub adds that these chats, and temporary chats, are used to respond to you, “using the last 24 hours of your chat as context”, and to protect Google, its users and the public.1

Brello 1.0 writes chats, including any “Thought process” text, to a single file, conversations.json, in its private app storage. Android backup is turned off for the app, and its data-extraction rules exclude every storage domain from cloud backup and from device-to-device transfer, so chats are not copied to Google Drive backups or to a new phone. A chat stays until you swipe left to delete it, or delete every chat with “Delete all chats” in Settings. Nothing is synced, so if the phone is lost or reset, the chats are gone.

Human review

Google says people review a subset of Gemini chats to improve its services. Brello 1.0 has no human review, because chats never leave the phone.

In Google’s words, “a subset of chats are reviewed by human reviewers (including Google’s trained service providers) to help improve Google services”, and reviewers “assess if Gemini Apps’ responses were low-quality, inaccurate, or harmful”. Chats are disconnected from your account before they are sent to service providers, and “data reviewed by service providers is disconnected from your account and saved for 3 years”. Deleting your activity doesn’t remove them: “past chats already reviewed by service providers aren’t deleted because they aren’t connected to your Google Account”.1

Turning off Keep Activity stops future chats from being reviewed to improve Google’s services, but Google says that “even if your Keep Activity setting is off or you use temporary chats, Google still uses your chats to respond to you and help protect Google, our users, and the public, including with help from human reviewers”. Photos are covered too: a photo or video you share from a gallery app with Keep Activity on “is used to improve Google services with the help of human reviewers”. Google’s own advice is: “Please don’t enter confidential information that you wouldn’t want a reviewer to see or Google to use to improve our services, including machine-learning technologies.”1

In Brello 1.0, questions, photos and answers are processed on the phone and no Brello server receives them, so there is nothing for anyone at Stuvio to review. Photo questions never trigger web search.

Is it used to improve Google’s AI?

With Keep Activity on, Google uses Gemini activity to improve its services, including training generative AI models. Brello 1.0 has nothing to train on, because chats stay on the phone.

The Privacy Hub says Google “uses your activity to provide, develop, and improve its services (including training generative AI models)”. With Keep Activity off, “your future chats won’t appear in your Activity, and won’t be used to train our AI models, unless you choose to send Google feedback”. Feedback is reviewed by specially trained teams, and reviewed feedback and the conversations attached to it “are retained for up to 3 years, disconnected from your Google Account”.1

Two details are easy to miss. Audio and Gemini Live recordings are handled by a separate setting: Google says “your audio and Gemini Live videos and screenshares aren’t used to improve Google services by default”. And the settings have a limit: “Your Gemini settings don’t control processing of your chats to create anonymized data to improve Google services.”1

Brello 1.0 has no account system, no analytics and no crash reporting, and no Brello server receives your questions. We have no chats to train on.

On-device AI on Android: Gemini Nano

Google also runs AI on the phone. Gemini Nano is a model that Android apps can use through AICore, a system service, and Android’s documentation says it works without a network connection.

Android’s developer documentation says Gemini Nano lets apps deliver generative AI “without needing a network connection or sending data to the cloud”, and that it “runs in Android’s AICore system service”. AICore “does not have direct internet access”: internet requests, including model downloads, go through the open-source Private Compute Services companion app, and AICore “doesn’t store any record of the input data or the resulting outputs after processing them”. Apps reach Gemini Nano through ML Kit’s GenAI APIs for prompts, summarisation, rewriting and image description.4 An Android Developers Blog post from October 2024 adds that AICore complies with Android’s Private Compute Core.5

Gemini Nano and Brello 1.0 both run a language model on the phone, by different routes. Gemini Nano is part of Android: AICore distributes and updates it, and apps call it through Google’s APIs. Brello 1.0 downloads its own model files from Hugging Face and runs them inside the app with LiteRT-LM, on Android 8.0 or newer phones with a 64-bit ARM processor and enough memory for the chosen model.

The Gemini Apps Privacy Hub describes how the Gemini app handles chats, and Android’s documentation describes Gemini Nano for apps. Neither page says which Gemini app features, if any, run on Gemini Nano, so we make no claim about that.

Accounts and sign-in

Brello 1.0 has no accounts. The Gemini app can be used signed out; signed in, your activity is tied to your Google Account.

Google says that when you use Gemini signed out, it “processes your data (like your IP address and browser type) per the Google Privacy Policy”, and that “your data is not associated with your Google account”.1 The Google Privacy Policy, effective 1 October 2026, says that when you’re not signed in, Google stores the information it collects “with unique identifiers tied to the browser, application, or device you’re using”.3 Managing Gemini Apps Activity requires signing in.2

Brello 1.0 asks for nothing: there is no sign-up, and the models download from Hugging Face without an account or token.

Offline use

Brello 1.0 works offline after a one-time model download. The Gemini app pages we checked don’t describe offline use; Android’s documentation says on-device generative AI such as Gemini Nano “enables offline functionality”.4

Brello Core is a 977 MB download, Brello Vision 2.59 GB and Brello Pro 3.66 GB, and Wi-Fi is recommended for it. After that, the assistant works fully offline; only web search, which is optional, needs a connection.

Web search: who sees the query

The Gemini app can ground answers in Google Search results, inside Google. Brello 1.0 sends a search text from the phone to an outside search engine, and only when you allow it.

Brello 1.0’s web search is off by default. With it off, a question that looks time-sensitive brings up a card titled “Search the web for this?” with two buttons, “Search the web” and “Answer offline”. When Brello searches, the phone sends a cleaned-up search text directly to DuckDuckGo, Bing, Brave Search, Google News or Wikipedia, and then fetches up to four result pages itself. Google News is used only for time-sensitive questions, so Google can receive the search text then. The requests carry Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control headers, and the model that writes the answer still runs on the phone. The search engine and the websites see a normal request, including the phone’s IP address.

Google says “some Gemini responses are grounded on Search results”, and lists “info from websites you visit with Gemini” among saved activity. The Privacy Hub doesn’t describe what is sent to Search beyond that.1 How AI assistants handle your data explains these patterns in general terms.

What Gemini offers that Brello 1.0 doesn’t

The Gemini app does far more than Brello 1.0. These are the differences Google’s own pages describe.

• Gemini Live. Live chats with audio, camera video and screen sharing; their transcripts, audio and shared video are saved in Gemini Apps Activity if Keep Activity is on.2 Brello 1.0 has no voice input or output.
• Connected Apps. Gemini works with Google apps and third-party services, such as Gmail and Google Photos, and on Android with Phone, Messages and WhatsApp.1 Brello 1.0 connects to nothing but the model download and, if you allow it, web search.
• Richer inputs. You can share files, videos, screens and photos, and use an image to ask questions, edit it or generate other content such as a video.1 Brello 1.0 takes text and at most one photo per message.
• A device assistant. Gemini can act as the phone’s assistant and work with Google Assistant for quick voice actions.1
• More places to use it. Activity can be managed on computers, Android, and iPhone and iPad.2 Brello 1.0 runs on Android phones and iPhone.
• Search grounding. Some answers draw on Google Search results.1

Where Brello is weaker

Brello 1.0 is a prototype with small on-device models, and it gives up convenience to keep processing on the phone.

• Availability. Brello 1.0 (version 1.0.0, 4 October 2026) is on Google Play and the App Store.
• Smaller models. On-device models are far smaller than frontier cloud models: they can be wrong, have a knowledge cutoff and are weaker at long or complex reasoning. Brello’s system prompt asks the model to admit uncertainty, which is no guarantee.
• Short memory. A 4,096-token context window; each answer sees only the last six messages, clipped.
• Hardware demands. Android 8.0 or newer on a 64-bit ARM phone, 12 GB of RAM recommended for Brello Pro, a 977 MB to 3.66 GB download plus a speed cache of similar size, and up to a minute for a model’s first launch.
• Fewer inputs. One photo per message; no files, no voice input or output, and an English-only interface.
• No sync, backup or export. If you lose or reset the phone, the chats are gone.
• Web search depends on others. Third-party engines can take up to about 14 seconds per attempt or return nothing, and they see your IP address.

Other comparisons

We answer the same questions for four other assistants, each from its provider’s own pages.

• Brello and ChatGPT: training, Temporary Chat and who sees your searches
• Brello and Claude: model training and how long Anthropic keeps chats
• Brello and Microsoft Copilot: where your questions go
• Brello and Perplexity: two ways to answer from the web

Sources, with the dates we checked them

We opened each page ourselves on 5 October 2026. Where a page shows its own date, we give it too.

Facts about Brello describe Brello 1.0, version 1.0.0 (build 1), as of 5 October 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners; Brello isn’t affiliated with them.