How do I turn off voice Assistant on my Android phone?

A voice assistant is a digital assistant that uses voice recognition technology to understand spoken commands and complete tasks for users. Examples of popular voice assistants on Android phones include Google Assistant, Bixby, and Amazon Alexa.

There are many reasons why a user may want to disable their voice assistant on an Android phone. Some common reasons include privacy concerns, battery drainage from constant listening, finding the assistant distracting or annoying, accidentally triggering it too frequently, or simply not finding it useful anymore.

Turning off a voice assistant on an Android phone is a quick and easy process that takes just a few steps within the assistant’s app settings. The steps may vary slightly between different voice assistants, but the general process is quite similar across all of them. This guide will walk through the basic steps to disable Google Assistant, Bixby, Alexa or any other built-in voice assistant on an Android device.

Locate Your Voice Assistant App

The first step is to identify which voice assistant app you have enabled on your Android device. The most common virtual assistants on Android include:

• Google Assistant – Comes pre-installed on many Android devices like Pixel phones and can be downloaded from the Play Store. Look for the colorful ‘G’ icon.
• Bixby – Samsung’s proprietary voice assistant found on Galaxy devices. Check for the Bixby icon that looks like an ‘i’ inside a circle.
• Amazon Alexa – Can be downloaded as an app from the Amazon Appstore. The icon is a blue waveform.

You may also have third-party assistants like Robin, Hound or Lyra. Open your app drawer or home screen and look for an app with a microphone or “assistant” in the name.

Once you’ve located the voice assistant app in use, tap to open it and move on to the next step.

Open Your Voice Assistant App

The first step is to open the app for your particular voice assistant. The main voice assistants on Android are Google Assistant, Samsung Bixby, and Amazon Alexa. To open Google Assistant, go to your apps menu and tap the Google Assistant app icon to launch it. Or you can use an activity starter to programmatically open Google Assistant (1).

To open Bixby, go to your apps menu and tap the Bixby app. Bixby should launch and be ready to accept voice commands.

For Amazon Alexa, open the Amazon Alexa app from your apps menu. This will bring up the Alexa interface so you can access its settings.

Go to Settings

The next step is to open your voice assistant app’s settings. For Google Assistant, open the Google app and tap “More” in the bottom right corner, then tap “Settings” and select “Google Assistant.” For Bixby, open the Bixby app, tap the three dots in the top-right corner, then tap “Settings.” For Alexa, open the Alexa app, tap “More” in the bottom right corner, then tap “Settings.”

This will open up the full settings menu for your voice assistant app. Here you can customize various options related to voice, privacy, home devices, and more. Locate the section of settings specifically related to enabling or disabling the voice assistant.

For Google Assistant, this option will be called “Google Assistant” and allow you to toggle it on or off. For Bixby, look for a toggle labeled “Wake with Bixby” or “Voice wake-up.” For Alexa, find the setting called “Alexa Hands-Free” and toggle it off.

The settings menu is usually clearly organized with sections, making it easy to find the specific option for fully enabling or disabling the voice assistant functionality.

Sources:

https://support.google.com/assistant/answer/9193492?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid

https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/google-assistant-settings

Locate the Enable/Disable Option

Once you have opened your voice assistant app’s settings, the next step is to locate the specific option to enable or disable the voice assistant. This setting may be labeled in different ways depending on your device and voice assistant app, but generally you will see an option like “Enable Google Assistant” or “Disable Bixby Voice” (according to XDA Developers). The setting is usually a simple toggle on/off switch.

On Pixel devices with the Google Assistant, look under the “General” tab in your assistant settings for a setting called “Voice Match” or “Hey Google” detection. Toggling this off will disable the assistant from responding to your voice. For the Google app specifically, the setting may also be under “Voice” or “Voice & Audio” (via Android Police).

For other assistants like Bixby or Alexa, check their respective settings apps for a similarly labeled option to fully disable the voice assistant features. This basic on/off toggle is the fastest way to disable hands-free voice control.

Toggle Off Voice Assistant

Once you open your voice assistant settings, you need to locate the option to disable or turn off the voice assistant. This setting may be labeled “Enabled” or “Voice Assistant” with a toggle switch next to it. To disable your voice assistant:

1. Find the “Enabled” or “Voice Assistant” option in your settings.
2. Tap on the toggle switch so it turns grey/white and moves to the left.
3. This will switch the setting to disabled or off.

For example, in Google Assistant settings you would tap the “Google Assistant” switch to the off position. The switch will turn grey and slide to the left to visually indicate Assistant is now disabled.

Confirm Voice Assistant is Disabled

After toggling off your voice assistant in the settings, you’ll want to verify that it is no longer activating when you say the trigger phrase. Try saying “Hey Google” or “OK Google” a few times. The voice assistant should not respond or bring up the listening interface. If it still activates, go back to the settings and double check that the enable/disable toggle is switched to the off position. You can also try fully closing and reopening the app to make sure the disabled setting takes effect.

To be certain the voice assistant is not running at all, you can go into your phone’s app settings or application manager and force stop or disable the Google app entirely. This will prevent any background processes from accidentally triggering it. With the app disabled, saying “OK Google” should have no effect. Just remember to re-enable the Google app later if you want to turn voice assistant back on.

As a final check, look for the microphone icon in your status bar or navigation area. If voice assistant is fully disabled, this icon should not be present, indicating the microphone is off. If you still see the mic icon, there may be a rogue process that needs to be stopped. With no mic icon and no response to the trigger phrase, you can rest assured Google Assistant or any other voice assistant is completely disabled.

Alternative Methods

If you don’t have access to the Google Assistant app or settings, there are a couple alternative methods you can use to disable Google Assistant on your Android device:

One option is to go into your system settings and disable Google Assistant access and permissions. Open your Settings app and go to Apps or Application Manager. Find the Google app, select it, choose Permissions and then toggle off permissions like Microphone, Voice Input, and Text-to-speech. This prevents the Google Assistant from accessing these features needed to function. You can also go into App Details and disable the app entirely. Just keep in mind this disables all Google apps, not just Assistant.

Another alternative is to simply uninstall updates and revert to the factory version of the Google app, which may not have the Google Assistant enabled. Go to Play Store > Manage Apps & Devices > See All Apps. Find and select the Google app, choose Uninstall Updates, and confirm. This reverts it to the out-of-box version that came on your device.

As a last resort, you can uninstall the entire Google app, however this also disables key Google services like Gmail and Maps. To do this, go to Settings > Apps, select the Google app, and choose Uninstall. Confirm to remove the app and all its services from your device.

Re-Enabling Your Voice Assistant

If you change your mind and want to turn your voice assistant back on, re-enabling it is simple.

Just follow these steps:

1. Open your voice assistant app again and go to Settings.
2. Look for the same enable/disable toggle switch.
3. Flip the switch to the “on” position.
4. You may see a popup confirming you want to re-enable the voice assistant. Tap “Yes.”
5. Try saying “Ok Google” or “Hey Siri” to test it.

Your phone’s voice assistant should now be active and ready to respond to your voice commands again.

Don’t hesitate to turn it off again at any time if you change your mind.

Conclusion

In conclusion, turning off your Android phone’s voice assistant like Google Assistant is a straightforward process. The key steps are:

1. Locate and open your voice assistant app such as the Google app.
2. Go into the app’s settings, usually accessible via a menu or gear icon.
3. Look for a toggle or setting to enable/disable the voice assistant and turn it off.
4. Confirm the voice assistant no longer activates when you say “Ok Google” or “Hey Google.”

Disabling your voice assistant prevents it from listening for activation commands. You can always re-enable it later if desired. With just a few simple taps, you can turn off voice assistant and adjust your Android phone’s functionality.