How to Turn Off Google Assistant

Google Assistant helps everyday lives by letting users set alarms, book restaurants, check the weather, and perform many other tasks with the simple wake word – “Okay Google”. A recent statement from a digital privacy expert, warns users to consider the fact that the AI is listening to you all the time so that it can react when you call out the voice trigger.

This has caused a lot of ruckuses as there is the problem of this google assistant actively listening in to your private conversations and so people are showing up in a lot of forums if they can disable the Google Assistant feature on their devices. This article is your guide to disabling Google Assistant on your android mobile phones and other android-based home devices. 

What is the Google Assistant?

Google Assistant is the AI-based voice assistant, developed by Google Inc, that is now an integral part of every android device, today. This feature can be activated, initially, by pressing the home button and holding it for a few seconds. After a few upgrades, this feature allows users to activate it with voice commands like “Okay Google” or “Hey Google”.

The latest version of this software lets users have a full-blown conversation and the AI will even tell you jokes if you ask it. This attribute is not only available on android phones but also on smart TVs, home assistant gadgets, Chromebooks, and Pixelbooks.  

Turning off “Okay Google” on your Android phone

These are the different ways you can follow to disable the Google Assistant feature on your device.

1. Turn off Google Assistant directly
2. Deactivate Google’s listening abilities
3. Remove Microphone permissions for Google
4. Remove the key mapping for the Google Assistant button.
5. There are some tweaks you can make to change the Google Assistant settings

Fun Fact: To go into the Google Assistant settings, you can bring up the Assistant and then, say something like “Okay Google, open Assistant Settings”.

Turn off Google Assistant directly

This is the most straightforward way to disable the Google Assistant app on your mobile devices. These are the step-by-step instructions to turn Google Assistant off.

1. Open the Google application on your android phone or tablet. 

This is not to be confused with the Google Home app. The Google app’s logo is a G with a four-color gradient.

2. Tap the three dots More menu, which is located at the bottom-right corner of your screen.

3. Touch the Settings option and go to the Google Assistant settings.

4. Tap on the General option and touch the toggle button next to Google Assistant to disable it.

Turn off Google Assistant’s listening abilities

It is a known fact that the Google app uses a voice command to trigger the Google Assistant. This means that the Google App has the capacity to listen to or receive voices. This can be disabled in order to prevent Google Assistant from detecting your voice. 

This is the procedure to stop Google Assistant from responding to you from your phone or tablet.

1. Launch the Settings menu on your phone. The icon is usually one or more gear cogs.
2. Scroll down and go into the Google settings. 

3. In the Google settings, choose Account Services, after a bit of scrolling.
4. Locate it and tap Voice Match.

5. Touch the toggle switch named “Hey Google”.

If your phone has an exclusive section of Driving settings for the Google Assistant, you will have to go into the Driving settings option and disable the “While Driving” toggle switch. Your phone will no longer respond to your “Hey Google”.

Disable microphone permissions for your Google App

Every application that includes features like recording voices, making calls, or requiring any form of vocal input requests microphone access from the user, so that they can use the phone’s mic. If you refuse to provide microphone permissions for it, this will turn off Google Assistant on your android phone or tablet.

This is how you can turn off Google Assistant’s microphone access.

1. Open the Settings app on your device.
2. In the settings screen, go into the Apps & Notifications.
3. You’ll see a chart of all the applications on your mobile. From here, choose the Google option.
4. Go into the Permissions option and then, select Microphone.

5. Tap the Deny button.

You will not be able to use the Google Assistant service again, because you have will have removed the microphone privileges that were once allotted to the Google Assistant service.

Turn off the Trigger button

Every android phone that supports the Google Assistant has a button that can be used to bring up the voice helper. If this button’s ability to launch, is removed, you will not be able to launch Google Assistant. This also prevents the feature from being activated by mistake.

Follow these steps to disable the triggering button on your phone.

1. Open the phone’s settings application.
2. Go to the Apps menu. Some phones might have an additional settings option, which contains the shortcuts for the buttons on your phone. If you cannot find this, you can use the search bar in your settings window to look for these settings.

3. You should be able to see the Google Assistant option. Open it and you have to choose whichever option promises to remove the button shortcut’s function.

This will stop bringing up the Google Assistant when you press the shortcut button.

The Google Assistant settings tweak

A little tweak can help you change a lot of settings on your Google Assistant. With the following steps, you can change the AI’s application preferences so that your phone detects the voice trigger, under select conditions. 

1. Go to your phone’s settings and locate the Apps settings.
2. Touch the three-dots menu and select the Default apps option.
3. Go to the Device Assistance. Some phones might have the Assist app option, instead of Device Assistance. 
4. Open the gear icon menu and select Voice Match.
5. In the next window, turn on the While Driving option and disable the Access with Voice Match toggle switch.

Turning off Google Assistant on Smart Home Android Devices

If you own smart home devices that can be controlled with Google Assistant and wish to disable it on them, you can do it through the Google Home app. Here’s how you can turn off Google Assistant on your Google Home devices.

1. Launch the Google Home application. You will need the Google Home app to control your smart device. You can download it from the Play Store (Android) or the AppStore (iOS).
2. Tap home (house icon), which is on the menu bar at the bottom.
3. Choose any device that is connected to your Google Home and open the device’s settings. 
4. Go into the Digital Wellbeing menu and then, select the New Schedule option.

5. Select all the devices that you want to turn off Google Assistant on.
6. Press the Next button and choose a schedule that you want to set for your devices. You can also create a schedule that suits you, alternatively.
7. Select Next to proceed with selecting the start and end timings for disabling the Assistant feature.
8. Once you are done choosing your timings, select Next and then, Done.

Frequently Asked Questions