Almost all our smartphones
have voice control feature and this smartphone voice control feature is really
very useful and useful tool and it responds automatically but through this
feature there are chances that it compromises your privacy several times.
Because Google can always listen to you through your phone's microphone, and if
you give voice commands, Google can follow it.
In addition, if
confidential conversations from your home or office go over the Internet to
another company, you will not have any privacy concerns, since many other
parties are likely to be involved in this issue.
But the good news is that
you haven't completely lost control of your device, you still have full control
over your Google account and your device, and the settings to prevent Google
from listening to you are at your fingertips.
1. How does Google
listen to you?
If you're surprised that
Google is listening to you all the time, here are some plausible reasons to leave
your mobile device's microphone open:
• 1. The OK Google feature
on your phone should recognize the word "ok Google" when you say it.
• 2. Google Assistant
should recognize when you need help.
• 3. Google Maps must
activate voice recognition every time you say "Hey Google".
• 4. Android Auto activates
voice recognition when you say “Hey Google”.
For these reasons, there is
no legal obstacle to Google listening to you all the time, but for many it is
unacceptable. And when you install these apps, Google does so with your
permission. Moreover, very few people pay attention to the permissions that
most people grant when installing these apps.
2. Where does
Google store my voice recordings?
Go to your Google Account
and see which of your voice commands have access to Google Records.
1. Go
to My Google Activity in your web browser and make sure you are signed in to
your Google account. Now scroll down to Web & App Activity and select
Manage Activity. Next, select Filter by date and product.
2. 2. A filter window will now open with a list. Now scroll down and
click on the checkbox next to Voice and Audio and click Apply.
As a result, it will filter your activity history to only voice
and audio recordings that Google has collected from you.
3.
How to stop Google from
listening to you
There are several ways to prevent Google from
listening to you. One is to completely disable active listening from your
Google account. So anyway, and that's why Google needs you to believe that all
Google apps have stopped listening to you.
Another method is to
forcibly turn off active listening and remove all permissions from the Google
app. In this tune, we'll discuss each method in detail so you can choose the
one that best protects your privacy.
3.1 Turn off Google Voice
history
The easiest way to prevent
Google from listening to you is to disable the saving of audio recordings in
your Google account.
1. First, go to the My
Google Activity page in your web browser and select Web & App Activity from
the right sidebar.
2. The Web and App Activity
page will now open. Uncheck the box next to Include audio recordings.
When disabled, any voice
commands issued to Google Assistant, Google Search, or Google Maps will not be
logged into your Google Account.
Note: This means Google
won't save only incoming recordings. And that doesn't mean Google isn't always
listening. You must take more drastic steps to disable all of your comments
from Google, which are discussed in more detail below.
3.2 Stop for Google Assistant
to listen to you
Google Assistant is the
main app that listens to you the most. And this app is always ready to respond
to your “OK Google” statement.
You can turn off the
microphone permission of the app so that it can't listen to you.
Do this:
1. On your Android phone,
open the Settings menu and tap Google.
2. Now select Settings for
Google Apps.
3. Now select Search,
Assistant & Voice.
4. Now select Voice.
5. Select Voice Match from
the Voice menu.
6. Now disable the toggle
to the right of Hey Google on the Voice Match screen.
This will disable the
Google Assistant app from hearing the phrase "Hey Google". However,
remember to enter voice commands you have to manually tap the microphone icon
in the Google Assistant app. However, if your only concern is privacy, you need
to be careful.
3.4 Stop Android Auto from
listening
Another app from Google
that listens to you is called Android Auto. And luckily, this app has a setting
that you can use to turn this feature off so that the app doesn't always listen
to you.
1. Launch the Android Auto
app and tap the menu icon.
2. Select Settings from the
Android Auto menu.
3. In the settings menu,
select the "Hey Google" detection option.
4. On the next Settings
screen, disable the switch to the right of Hey Google.
This will disable Android
Auto from continuously monitoring you when you say "Hey Google". And
remember, you have to manually enter Android Auto again because you can no
longer start it using voice commands.
3.5 Prevent Google Maps
from listening to you
Google Maps can still
listen to your voice commands if you haven't checked your Google Assistant
settings in the Google Maps app on your phone. However, you can turn this
feature off in the Google Maps app.
1. First, open the Google
Maps app on your phone and tap your profile picture on the top right to open
the profile menu.
2. Now select Settings to
open the Google Maps settings menu.
3. Tap Navigation Settings
and on the next screen, select Google Assistant Settings.
4. Now on the Driving Mode
screen, make sure the switch to the right of Driving Mode is turned off.
As a result, Google
Assistant active in Google Maps will be disabled. And if you want to give voice
commands, Google Maps won't listen to you unless you manually tap the
microphone icon on the Google Maps home screen.
3.6 Prevent the Google app
from listening to you
The final method to prevent
the Google app from listening to you is to disable the Google app's microphone
permission on your phone.
1. Open your Android
phone's Settings menu and select Applications.
2. In the list of apps, scroll down to Google Apps and tap Google Apps.
3. Now Google app
information page will open, select Permissions option.
Next, you'll disable the
Google app from accessing your microphone, so it won't be able to listen to you
through your phone's microphone.
4. Now select the
Microphone option from the App Permissions menu list.
5. Now enable the Deny
Reddit button on the Microphone Permissions screen.
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