How to Stop Google Assistant from Popping Up

Google Assistant is a smart and useful smart assistant app that works on voice recognition, voice matching, and artificial intelligence. Compared to Google’s previous smart assistant Google Now, Google Assistant is much more advanced and can participate in two-way conversations.

What’s great about Google Assistant is that you can use it both on iPhone and Android, but in general, people that have Android use it more frequently, because iPhone users tend to use Apple’s built-in assistant Siri.

Google Assistant can be really helpful; it can help you find the best restaurants or book a flight. However, sometimes Google Assistant can be a real nuisance when it keeps on popping up without being prompted.

Recently, many people have reported an issue where Google Assistant pops up automatically on their Android phone while they are talking to other people, or they are busy working, or doing other activities.

If you too have experienced this issue, in this article we’ll walk you through several ways to fix Google Assistant popping up randomly.

Disable Google Assistant completely

The easiest and simplest way to stop Google Assistant from popping up is to disable it completely. If you are not using it at all and want to turn it off:

1. Open the Google app on your Android device.
2. Tap on the profile icon in the top-right corner.

3. Next, go to ‘Setting’.

4. Select ‘Google Assistant’.

5. Scroll down and find the ‘General’ option.

6. Switch the toggle next to Google Assistant from right to left to turn it off.

6. Tap TURN OFF to confirm your choice.

There is an alternative way to disable Google Assistant:

1. On your Android device, tap and hold the Home button.
2. When the Google Assistant pops up, tap on the box-shaped icon in the bottom-left corner.

3. Tap on the profile icon and go back to step 5 in the list above.

If you change your mind and want to enable Google Assistant again, just follow the steps above and switch the toggle to ON.

Remove Google as the default voice assistant

Google Assistant can pop up unexpectedly when you press and hold the Home button accidentally. To disable Google Assistant from popping up every time you hold the Home button a bit longer:

1. Go to Settings on your Android device.
2. Navigate to Apps & notifications (on some models, it may be named Apps or Applications).
3. Select Default apps.
4. Tap on Assist and voice input.
5. Next, tap on Default assistant app.
6. Select None.

Disable ‘Hey Google’ detection

If you don’t want to disable Google Assistant completely, but it frustrates you that it pops up randomly without being prompted, you can disable the “Hey Google” or “OK Google” voice command.

1. Open the Google app.
2. Tap on your profile picture in the top right corner > Settings > Google Assistant.
3. Tap on ‘Hey Google & Voice Match’.

4. Toggle off the switch next to ‘Hey Google’.

Remove Microphone Permission for Google

1. Open Settings on your Android device.
2. Go to Apps and notifications and select See all apps.
3. Find the Google app and tap on it.
4. Go to Permissions > Microphone.
5. Set the app access to ‘Deny’.

Disable Google Assistant hands-free activation while using headphones

If Google Assistant randomly pops up when you are using headphones, then there might be some issue with them.

To disable Google Assistant while you are using headphones:

1. Open the Google app.
2. Tap on your profile picture > Settings.
3. Tap on Voice.
4. Turn off the toggle for ‘Allow wired headset requests with the device locked’.

If you want to learn more troubleshooting tricks about Google’s services, read how to fix the ‘Could not connect to Google Home Mini’ error message you get on your device.