Google is rolling out a way to turn off Gemini watermarks that appear visibly on media made with its AI tools. The new Media Watermark control applies to images, video and music generated in Gemini and Flow, Google’s AI video tool, according to reporting by TechCrunch and The Verge.
The setting removes the small visible sparkle mark that Google places in the lower-right corner of eligible output. It does not erase the machine-readable signals Google says it embeds in the files.
How do I turn off Gemini watermarks?
As the rollout reaches an account, users can go to Settings > Media Watermark and choose whether the visible mark is on or off, TechCrunch reported on August 14. Google described the feature as rolling out over the following days, so the setting may not yet appear for every user.
Google said the option is available in Gemini and Flow. Josh Woodward, the Google executive overseeing Gemini, Google Labs and AI Studio, said it covers output from the company’s Nano Banana, Omni and Lyria models. That means the setting is intended for still images, videos and songs, not only for Gemini images.
What changes when the visible watermark is off?
- The visible change: eligible generated media can be produced without the on-image or on-video sparkle mark.
- What remains: Google says invisible SynthID watermarks and C2PA metadata stay embedded when the visible mark is disabled.
- How detection is meant to work: Woodward said Gemini or Google Search can check whether an image is AI-generated when it carries those markers.
That distinction is the important one. Google is offering an opt-out from a visible label on its generated media, while saying it will retain its less obvious provenance markers. Whether those markers remain available after a file is edited, converted or passed through another platform is not addressed in the reports.
Google plans to add the Media Watermark setting to Search, The Verge reported, but Search is not included in the current Gemini and Flow rollout. The company also said it will not launch the toggle in countries where visible watermarks are legally required.
The announcement concerns watermarks on media generated by Google’s own tools. It is separate from 2025 reporting that people used an earlier Gemini image-editing model to remove watermarks from existing images. This update gives users a product setting instead of requiring them to alter a generated file after the fact.
Google’s practical pitch is creative control without dropping every trace of origin. The visible sparkle can go away. SynthID and C2PA metadata, Google says, remain in the file.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
