How to disable OK Google and Google Assistant on Android devices
Many Android devices come with Google applications and services, even if the device is not a device created by Google itself but by another company. Google Assistant is available as a standalone application as well which Android users may install to integrate it on their device.
Two of the features that you may find on your Android device are OK Google and Google Assistant. OK Google is a tool that is activated by voice to run searches or certain actions. Google Assistant ties into that but can also be controlled via text.
If OK Google or Google Assistant are active on your Android device but you are not using these tools, you may want to consider disabling those.
You may remember that I bought a Google Pixel 3A device when it first came out to replace my trusted by aging Nokia 5.1 device. The Google device is chock-full when it comes to Google services and tools; OK Google and Google Assistant are a part of the device but I never use these services.
I don't have any use cases for these, don't want to talk to my phone, and don't like the privacy implications either.
One of the first things that I did was to go through the smartphone to disable any service or tool that I don't use. OK Google and Google Assistant were two of the features that I disabled. Here is how I did it.
Note: The way to disable Google Assistant and OK Google may be different depending on the Android version of the device. If you notice that you have to follow different steps to disable the features, let me know in the comments. If you figured it out, please share your experience in the comments so that others may benefit from it as well.
Disable OK Google
Here is how you disable OK Google on your device:
- Open the Google application on the Android device.
- Click on the "More" link when it opens.
- Now navigate to Settings > Voice > Voice Match
- Disable "Access with Voice Match", "Unlock with Voice Match", and "While Driving".
Disable Google Assistant
Google Assistant is disabled in the Google settings on the device, not in the Google application.
- Open the Settings on the device.
- Select Google and use it to navigate to Search, Assistant & Voice > Google Assistant.
- In the Google Assistant settings, switch to the Assistant tab.
- Scroll down until you find the list of Assistant devices.
- Select your device.
- Turn off "Google Assistant" on the screen that opens.
Closing Words
Disabling does not mean that these two services are removed entirely from the device. You still get the voice icon in the search field but a tap on the icon displays a "turn on" prompt indicating that Google Assistant is turned off.
Now You: do you use voice search or assistants on your devices?
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?