Whenever you go out with your friends, do any of them have fun recalling the “Ok Google” feature of your smartphone and using Android’s voice server to make the most strampal searches? Unfortunately, it is not an isolated case. Of “mattacchioni” friends we have more or less everyone, but fortunately there are also solutions to keep them “at bay”.
Have you ever thought, for example, of turning off “Ok Google” to limit its performance to the Google app and search widget instead of having it on home screens and in all applications? In my opinion, this is a very effective solution. Then it is reversible: you can go back anytime. What do you say? Did I tease you with my idea? If your answer is affirmative, take five minutes and find out how to turn off “Ok Google” thanks to the directions I’m going to give you. I assure you that this is really a joke.
For the tutorial, I will use a smartphone equipped with Android 6.0, but the instructions in this article should also apply to previous and later versions of the green robotic operating system (also because it basically works on the Google app settings not those of the system). Then I will also deal with iOS and PC, where the indications are “transverse” regardless of the operating system version that you are using. Good reading and good fun!
Disable “Ok Google” on Android
Let’s start with this guide on how to turn off “Ok Google” by talking about Android , the operating system developed by the same “big G” that equips many smartphones and tablets available on the market today. There are several ways to turn off “Ok Google” on Android, some radicals (complete deactivation of the service), others less (partial deactivation of the service): here’s everything explained in detail.
If you want to disable “Ok Google” in a partial way, leaving it active in the Google app and search screen, sign in to the Android app drawer (the screen where there are icons of all apps installed on your device) and open Google . If you do not find any apps called “Google,” try searching for Google Settings (the Gear icon with the “G” centered in Google), or open the Android Settings (Gear icon) and select the Google entry from the latter.
Another way you can go through is to search for the Google Search widget on your home screen and to press it first on it and then on the “G” Google logo on the left side of the search (in the screen that opens).
At this point, if you’ve opened the Google app or you’ve taped the “G” logo in the search widget, click the ≡ button at the bottom right and select the Settings and Item entries from the opening screen. If, however, you’ve opened Google Settings or you’ve recalled the Google entry from Android settings, go ahead by selecting Search and Voices .
Now, regardless of how you have reached the menu with Google settings, go to Discovery “Ok Google” and move to OFF lever on the function Say “Ok Google” at any time . This will prevent you from turning on the “Ok Google” feature from the home screen of your device and apps while not turning off voice command support on the Google Search screen (the one that appears when you start the Google app or tap the widget home screen search).
Deactivate “Ok Google” completely
If you’d like to turn off “Ok Google” completely, including the Google app and search widget, follow the steps outlined above (turn off the “Ok Google” feature at any time, and then you must revoke permissions to access microphone to the Google app.
To do this, open the Android Settings menu and go to App . On the screen that opens, tap the Google App icon , select the Permissions from the screen that opens and move the microphone off to OFF . Then answer affirmatively the warning that appears on the screen and the game is done.
Now, the “Ok Google” feature is turned off 100% and can not be invoked either from the Android home screen or Google app (or from apps). However, turning off the microphone in the Google app may lead to annoying side effects , such as the inability to use voice search by clicking on the microphone icon in the Google or Google widget search field.
If you know about the malfunctioning of turning off the microphone in the Google app or, much more simply, changing your mind about deactivating “Ok Google”, you can go back to your steps by going to Settings> App> Google> Permissions and resetting ON the relative lever to the microphone .
To restore the “Ok Google” on the home screen, however, go into Google Settings, then Voice> Detection “Ok Google” and shifts to ON the lever relative to the function Say “Ok Google” at any time . Easier than that?
Disable “Ok Google” on iOS
If you have an iPhone or iPad, and you’ve installed the Google app , you can use the “Ok Google” feature within this one (to do online searches). If for one reason or another you want to disable the function, proceed as follows.
Start the Google app on your device, pick up your photo on the top left and select Voice Search from the screen that opens. At this point, moves to OFF lever on the function Hotword “Ok Google” , presses the button End which is located at the top right and you’re done.
In the case of second thoughts, almost needless to say, you can restore the “Ok Google” on your iPhone or iPad by opening the app Google , pressing on your photo by going to search by voice and moving on ON the lever relative to the function Hotword “Ok Google” .
Instead, if you want to completely turn off the voice search feature within the Google app, open the iOS Settings menu (the gear icon on the home screen), select the Google App icon at the bottom to the screen and move the microphone lever to OFF .
By modifying iOS settings as I just suggested, the Google app will no longer have access to the microphone, so it will not allow voice searches or the “Ok Google” feature. If you have a rethink, you can go back to your steps by going back to the Settings> Google menu and resetting the microphone lever ON .
Turn off “Ok Google” on your computer
The “Ok Google” function of Android and iOS is not yet available on your PC, but if you use Chrome as a browser you can make voice searches and leverage your Google Assistant by clicking on the microphone icon on your browser’s home page and in the bar Google search.
If for one reason or another you want to disable the feature that allows you to make voice searches using Google Chrome’s microphone support, start your browser, click on the ⋮ button that you see in the upper right and select the Settings item from the menu that appears .
On the page that opens, expand the Advanced item at the bottom, go to Content Settings and select the microphone entry . Then, locate Google related items (eg https://www.google.com:443 or https://www.google.com:443 ) in the Allow and Remove field by clicking the trash can icon next to each of they.
By doing so, you have revoked your permission to use the microphone from Google and, consequently, the search engine will not be able to take advantage of its voice search capabilities.
In case of rethinking, you can reset Google voice functions by clicking on the microphone icon in the search bar (on the Chrome homepage or on google.com) and responding to the Alert on the top left.
If, on the other hand, you want to block Google’s access to your microphone more resolutely, and you want to prevent it from being restored by simply responding to “Allow” the warning that appears on the screen, reply Lock it to the same warning that appears after you have clicked on the microphone icon in Google.
You will then be able to unlock your microphone search by going to Settings> Advanced> Content Settings> Microphone and clicking on the trash canicon next to the Google items in the Block field .
In case of problems
Despite my suggestions, you have not been able to turn off “Ok Google” yet? It seems strange. In any case, do not be discouraged, I am convinced that you will eventually find a solution.
For example, if you can not find Google settings on your Android terminal, try opening the Play Store (the icon of the ▶ ︎ colored icon on the home screen) and look for updates for the Google app. If you do not know how to do it, tap the ≡button at the top left, go to My Apps and My Games , select the Updates and Push tabs on the Update All button to update all apps that require an update ( among which there should be Google too).
If, on the other hand, the Google app is not installed on your device, try it within the Play Store, tap its icon in the search results (the “G” colored on a white background) and install it by clicking on the Install and Accept buttons .
After you’ve upgraded or installed the Google app, restart your device and try to use the directions I’ve given you in the previous chapters of this tutorial.
In case of further doubt, then, make a leap on the Google site, which offers a wealth of useful information on how to turn on and off “Ok Google” on Android and iOS .
