In this guide, we will explain how to turn off Google Assistant on your device. As we all know, Google Assistant can help you get stuff done quicker. It can schedule events, play your desired songs, and even respond to any weird questions you might have.
Though not everyone needs to use the voice-controlled feature for many reasons, some don’t prefer the idea of their smartphone hearing to them, while others don’t chat English well and overlook the benefits of keeping the feature switched on. Whatever the mind may be, here is an easy guide on how you can turn the feature off on your Android smartphone. The moves are straightforward and only take a couple of seconds to finish.
What Is Google Assistant?
Google Assistant is a virtual assistant powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence) for smartphones, computers, tablets, and smart home devices. You can communicate with the Assistant via voice commands or keyboard input to explore the internet, play music, send texts, schedule tasks, monitor the weather, set alarms, adjust smart home settings, and much more.
Google Assistant owns over 1 million actions the service can act on its own, with more being continued all the time. Further operations are made possible thanks to the AI’s alliance with Google’s extensive selection of applications and third-party services.
How to turn off Google Assistant on Android
For those who are simply over Google Assistant, follow these ways to turn it off entirely through your Android device:
- Start your Google application and then click the three dots in the bottom toolbar (titled “more”).
- Choose “Settings” to open up a new menu.
- Click “Google Assistant” and start over to the Assistant section.
- Inside ‘Assistant devices’, choose ‘Phone’.
- Press the toggle button to turn off Google Assistant on your device.
How to Deactivate the Google Assistant support button
For those who still want to use Google Assistant, but with a bit more intentionality, deactivating the support key can be a great alternative to turning it off entirely. Usually, it shows that you can’t unintentionally turn on your Assistant via your smartphone’s home button. Here are steps to turn it off:
- Go to Settings on your device. Scroll down the screen to the “Applications” section, then choose “Default applications.”
- Press “Assistant and Voice Input” or “Device assistance app” (the title of these commands can vary on different devices).
- To turn off the Google Assistant support button, press “Device Assistance App” (not the setting icon next to it) and select an option other than Google Assistant.
Adjust “Hey Google” Sensitivity
If you observe you’re always waking up your Google Assistant unexpectedly, the “Hey Google” sensitivity may be too high. You can alter how well your Google Assistant counters to its wake word if it isn’t listening to you well enough or if it mistakes other sounds for its wake word.
To customize the Home application’s sensitivity, press on your profile icon in the top right, followed by Assistant Settings. On the following screen, go to the Assistant tab, and you will see many options, including “Hey Google” sensitivity. There you will be able to modify the sensitivity for all speakers in your app. Choose the speaker you’d like to change and select from 5 settings from “least sensitive” to “most sensitive.”
Deactivate Google Assistant on Smart Home Devices
If you have a smart speaker or smart display and you need to turn Google Assistant off temporarily, or you need to turn it off repeatedly at specific times. You can do it through Downtime in the Google Home application. Here’s how:
- Start the Google Home application.
- Click Home and choose a device.
- Press the Settings gear icon.
- Click Digital Wellbeing -> New Schedule.
- Please select all the devices you need to apply it to, then click next.
- Select the days and set a ready-made schedule or create a custom schedule, then click next.
- Select start and end times, then Next > Done.
On an Android Smartwatch
To deactivate Google Assistant on Android Watch, tap on the Settings or Gear icon, then select Personalization. From there, switch OK Google Detection off.
Turn off Google Assistant on iOS
If you have the Google Assistant application on iOS, you can still turn it off listening to your spoken commands by turning off the microphone. Navigate to Settings -> Google Assistant -> Microphone and slide the toggle off.
A different way to switch off Assistant on iOS is to delete the application. This serves the same as it does for all other iOS apps. Press down on the application’s icon from the home screen, wait for it to begin wiggling, then choose Delete App.
Disable Google Assistant on a Chromebook
Google has started rolling out Google Assistant globally to Chromebooks, old and new. Just like on a smartphone, this can be quite very handy. Though, if you don’t need to use the Assistant for whatever motive, Google makes it much simple to disable it.
On the Chromebook, navigate to the Settings app. Then, search down the sidebar and locate ‘Search and Assistant.’ Clicking that should also show a section for Assistant. Under that list, you’ll be able to press a single toggle to turn off Google Assistant entirely on the device.
Turn Off Google Assistant on a Smart Speaker
There are two ways to turn off Google Assistant on a smart speaker. First, you can flip the mute key on the speaker. On a Google Home Mini, it’s found near the charging point. This technically won’t remove Google Assistant altogether, but it won’t be able to listen to your voice commands.
The other choice is to leave your smart speaker disconnected from the internet. You don’t require a connection to use the Bluetooth speaker feature, only for intelligent functionalities.
Conclusion
Above, we have guided you through how to turn off Google Assistant on Android, iOS, smart speaker, Android Smartwatch, Chromebook, and smart home devices. Well, that pretty much sums up our guide on how to turn off Google Assistant.