How to Turn Off Google Assistant on Android

To turn off Google Assistant, the main lever is the default digital assistant setting: set it to None and the assistant stops launching from gestures, the power button, or “Hey Google.” The important context now is that Google is phasing out Assistant in favor of Gemini. Depending on your phone and updates, you may be turning off classic Assistant, Gemini, or both, and the exact steps differ. There is no single master switch that removes every assistant surface at once.

Why does this matter in practice? If you blindly follow an older tutorial that only mentions Google Assistant, you may toggle a setting that no longer exists on a Gemini phone and conclude nothing works. The reliable approach is to identify which assistant you actually have first, then apply the matching steps below. The good news is that the single most important action – setting the default digital assistant to None – behaves the same regardless of which one is installed.

Assistant or Gemini: check which you have

Before changing anything, work out which assistant your phone is running, because that decides the steps. Press and hold the home gesture or say “Hey Google.” If a colorful spark or a text box labelled Gemini appears, your phone has moved to Gemini. If you see the familiar four-dot Assistant animation, you are still on classic Assistant. Many phones are mid-transition, so you may even see Gemini in one place and Assistant in another. Whichever shows up, the first step below works the same way.

Step 1: Change the default digital assistant

This is the single most effective step and works whether your phone uses Assistant or Gemini.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Apps, then Default apps (some phones: Advanced, then Default apps).
3. Tap Digital assistant app.
4. Select None to disable the assistant entirely, or pick a different assistant if you prefer one.

Menu names vary by manufacturer, so if you don’t see these exact labels, search your Settings app for assistant.

Step 2: Switch assistants inside the Google app (optional)

If Gemini is installed and you would rather keep classic Google Assistant for now, you can sometimes switch inside the Google app. Note this may stop working as Assistant is retired.

1. Open the Google app.
2. Tap your profile picture in the top corner, then Settings.
3. Look for the Google Assistant or Digital assistants section.
4. Choose the assistant you want. On some phones, such as certain Redmi models, this option may not appear.

Step 3: Turn off “Hey Google” voice detection

Even with a default assistant set, the hotword can keep the microphone listening. To stop voice activation, open the Google app or Assistant settings, find Hey Google & Voice Match, and turn off Hey Google (and remove your voice model if offered). On Gemini phones the equivalent setting lives in the Gemini app’s settings under the voice or activation options. This stops the phone responding to the wake phrase while you decide what to do about the app itself.

Step 4: Disable or roll back the Gemini app

On phones that have moved to Gemini, you can limit it directly.

1. Open Settings > Apps > Gemini.
2. If you see Uninstall, use it. If you only see Disable, use Disable (it’s a system app on some phones).
3. To stop future updates, open Gemini in the Play Store, tap the three-dot menu, and turn off Enable auto update.

Step 5: Limit activity and permissions

Turning the assistant off doesn’t automatically stop data collection, so clean up afterward.

1. Revoke the former assistant’s microphone and location permissions in Settings > Apps.
2. In your Google account, turn off Gemini Apps Activity (or Assistant activity).
3. Check app-connection settings, since some reports note Gemini may keep access to apps even when activity tracking is off.

Assistant vs. Gemini: what to turn off

Notes for specific brands

Because manufacturers customize Android, the exact path differs by brand. On Pixel phones, the digital assistant setting is under Settings > Apps > Assistant (or Default apps), and Gemini may already be the default on recent models. On Samsung Galaxy phones, besides the Google default-assistant setting, check whether Bixby is mapped to the side key under Settings > Advanced features, since that is a separate assistant you may also want to change. On Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO devices some users report the digital-assistant option is missing or hidden; there, disabling or force-stopping the assistant app and turning off its notifications is often the only route. Across all brands, searching Settings for “assistant” remains the fastest way to find whatever your manufacturer called the setting.

What you give up

Turning the assistant off fully means losing hands-free voice commands: setting timers and alarms by voice, voice navigation hands-free, reading or sending messages while driving, and controlling smart-home devices by speaking. If you only dislike accidental launches, consider setting the assistant to None but keeping the app installed, or disabling just the hotword, rather than removing everything. That keeps manual features available while stopping the behavior you find annoying.

Why there is no single off switch

Google’s assistant features appear in several places – a gesture or button, “Hey Google” detection, and surfaces inside apps like Search, Gmail, and Docs. Setting the default assistant to None handles the gestures and hotword launch, but assistant-style features can still appear elsewhere. If you want to be thorough, work through all the steps above rather than expecting one toggle to cover everything, and remember Gemini can also surface inside other Google products through your account settings.

Because the assistant ties into your Google account and its activity history, turning it off is a good moment to review how to secure your Google account, including activity controls and connected apps. If you are doing this cleanup as part of setting up a replacement handset, our guide on transferring data to a new phone explains what carries over and what you can leave behind.

Assistant also powers hands-free control of other features, like casting; if you relied on voice to do that, see how to cast Android to a TV manually instead. For background on another phone feature people often disable for privacy, read what NFC on Android is. For more step-by-step help, browse all of our Android guides.

Because Google is actively transitioning from Assistant to Gemini, menus and available toggles are changing. If a step doesn’t match your phone, search Settings for “assistant” or check Google’s current help pages for Android and the Google app.