{"id":41636,"date":"2022-07-26T12:06:42","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T02:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geeks2u.com.au\/?p=41636"},"modified":"2023-07-28T16:53:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T06:53:26","slug":"how-to-tell-your-phones-virtual-assistant-to-shut-up-and-stop-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geeks2u.com.au\/geekspeak\/how-to-tell-your-phones-virtual-assistant-to-shut-up-and-stop-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"How to tell your phone\u2019s virtual assistant to stop listening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Modern smartphones come with all sorts of additional features, including voice activated assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They can be extremely useful, because there are plenty of times when interacting with your phone in a hands-free manner is quite desirable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In-car usage is the obvious case, where it\u2019s both legally prudent and safety-conscious not to touch your screen, but there are plenty of other situations where being able to say \u201cHey Siri\u201d or \u201cHey Google\u201d and then invoking a command is super handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what if you don\u2019t want them listening in for their command words in specific situations? They\u2019re \u201csmart\u201d assistants, except when they\u2019re not, firing up at the most inopportune times. I\u2019ve had a few instances myself on live radio where Siri\u2019s decided to interpret what I was saying as a command to my Apple watch, suddenly bursting into life. That\u2019s less than desirable, for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which virtual assistant do I have?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve got an iPhone, it\u2019ll be running with Apple\u2019s Siri assistant. It\u2019s possible to load other assistants onto an iPhone, such as Google Assistant or Amazon\u2019s Alexa, but Siri is the default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have an Android phone \u2013 made by companies such as Samsung, Google, Oppo, Motorola or realme, to name just a few \u2013 then you\u2019ll at least have Google Assistant, and possibly other pre-loaded assistants as well. Samsung has its own assistant, called Bixby loaded onto many of its phones, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this guide I\u2019ll focus on the two most prevalent assistants, Google\u2019s Google Assistant and Apple\u2019s Siri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do I silence Siri on an iPhone?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apple provides a bunch of ways to invoke Siri, and nearly as many to fine tune exactly how and where you want to interact with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To make changes, open up the Settings app on your iPhone, and then scroll down to the section labelled \u201cSiri & Search\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there you\u2019ve got choices for it to listen for the \u201cHey Siri\u201d command. If it\u2019s on, the slider will be to the right with a green side. Tap it to switch it off if you don\u2019t want Siri to work from that voice command. You can also switch on or off the ability to invoke Siri from the side button here, allow it to work or not when your iPhone is locked and change the default Siri voice if you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do I gag Google Assistant?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On most Google phones, what you\u2019ll need to do to stop Google Assistant listening for commands is hidden behind a few layers of menus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Open up the Google app \u2013 if your phone has a prominent Google search bar on the main screen you can just tap on that \u2013 and then the picture of your account icon at the top right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then choose Settings, then Google Assistant, and then Hey Google & Voice Match. Phew, that\u2019s quite a lot \u2013 are you still with me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason why it\u2019s more deeply layered than with Apple\u2019s Siri is because Google lets you set Google Assistant listening privileges across multiple devices, all set from your Google Account. If you\u2019ve followed my instructions, you\u2019ll see a switch for \u201cHey Google\u201d, which you can disable if you don\u2019t want Google listening in for any reason. You can also set that for other devices registered to your Google account here, as well as go through voice training to get your assistant to better recognise your voice from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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