Is your phone always listening to you? Does Google keep a log of everything y'all say? And if then, what can you do about it?

In an age where every device has a microphone and they're fabricated by companies who love to rails what you practice, these are valid questions. Let's take a expect at the facts behind Google'southward recordings and how to stop your telephone from listening to you.

Is Google Always Listening on Android?

Before we continue, we should explain what exactly Google records from your Android device. While we'll briefly cover how to prevent Google from listening on iPhone afterwards, we focus on Android here since it's more relevant.

If you have a certain setting enabled on your phone, maxim "OK Google" or "Hey Google" will cause it to listen for a command. Before you say this wake phrase, your phone is listening for the keywords, but is non recording everything you say and uploading it to Google.

Simply similar with concerns over the Amazon Repeat, constantly recording everything a device hears would outcome in enormous amounts of useless information. We've looked more into whether your phone listens to you lot for more relevant ads, if you're interested.

Fifty-fifty if yous don't have the "OK Google" hotword enabled, y'all can still utilise voice commands (which Google records also). Tapping the microphone icon on the search bar, or otherwise launching Google Banana, will both immediately prompt you for a voice control.

What Google does record are the voice commands you say to your phone. If you say "OK Google, how old is Jack Blackness?", Google holds onto the question and a few seconds of prior audio.

How Do I Listen to My Google Recordings?

Google provides a portal for you to view all your interactions with its services. This includes vox recordings of your interactions with Google Assistant. You tin can view this on your phone through the Google category in the Settings app, only information technology's a bit easier on the web:

  1. Head to the Google My Activity folio. You'll see everything from YouTube videos you've watched to apps y'all've opened on your phone.
  2. Apply a filter to just show voice recordings by clicking Filter by date & product at the top of the list, under the search bar.
  3. Coil downwardly and select just the Voice and Audio box. If yous desire, you can set a fourth dimension frame, such as Last thirty days, by using the Filter by date section at the top.
  4. Click Apply.
Google Search Activity Voice Filter

You'll then see a timeline of all the recordings Google has of your voice activity, starting with the near recent. Click Details under an entry to see when it occurred, then choose View recording to hear it.

By default, this page bundles close events together. Click a parcel to aggrandize it if necessary, or choose Particular view at the top-left to see them all individually.

Google Voice Activity Entry Example

How to Terminate Google From Listening on Android

You can disable Google's voice recording with a sure toggle in your Android settings. If you lot like, yous can also go further later irresolute this. The below instructions reflect stock Android; the process may vary a bit depending on your device.

Turn Off "OK Google" on Your Phone

The kickoff stride is to plough off the "OK Google" detection on your Android phone, which you tin do by performing the post-obit:

  1. Open Settings on your phone and enter the Google category.
  2. Nether Services, select Business relationship services.
  3. Next, tap Search, Assistant & Voice.
  4. Hit Voice on the resulting page.
  5. You'll see a Voice Friction match entry; tap it.
  6. Disable the Hey Google slider to disable "OK Google" detection.
  7. If y'all want to erase Google's profile of your voice used for this feature from other devices, tap the X icon next to their names at the bottom, or select Remove from eligible devices to erase them all.

Once you do this, Google Assistant will not respond to "OK Google" on your Android phone. Your phone thus will no longer always be listening for the hotword.

Plow Off "OK Google" in Google Maps and Android Auto

If you lot don't want Google to listen while you're using Google Maps and/or Android Motorcar, you'll need to disable Google Assistant voice detection for those apps separately.

To disable "Hey Google" in Android Auto, open the Android Auto app. Slide out the left menu and choose Settings, then tap the "Hey Google" detection entry.

To disable information technology from Google Maps instead, open Maps and tap your profile picture in the pinnacle-right. Choose Settings > Navigation Settings > Google Assistant settings > "Hey Google" detection.

Either way, on the resulting folio, disable the While driving slider to turn off Google Assistant detection in both Google Maps and Android Auto.

Keep in mind that hands-free access is a safer way to play music and get directions while driving, so you may not want to disable "Hey Google" for these scenarios.

Turn Off Microphone Access for the Google App

To get farther, you can deny the Google app permission to access your microphone:

  1. Open Settings on your telephone and select Apps & notifications.
  2. Tap Run across all X apps to get a full list.
  3. Ringlet downwardly to Google and select it.
  4. Tap Permissions and select the Microphone option.
  5. Choose to Deny the permission. You'll take to have a prompt that some parts of your device might non work as intended, which is normal.

How to Disable Google Assistant Completely

If you lot'd like, you tin can completely disable the Google Banana instead:

  1. Open Settings on your phone and enter the Google category.
  2. Select Account Services > Search, Banana & Voice.
  3. Tap Google Assistant.
  4. Curl down to the list of All Settings and select Full general.
  5. Turn off the Google Assistant slider to disable it. Y'all'll need to confirm your choice earlier doing and then.

How to Stop Google From Listening on Your iPhone

If you use an iPhone, Google'due south presence is understandably not as pervasive. On iOS, Google Assistant is a split app. Information technology tin can't listen for the "Hey Google" keyword unless you lot take the app open, so you lot don't have to worry about it always listening. If you're concerned about Google Assistant, simply uninstall the app.

Meanwhile, you tin can plough off "OK Google" detection in the principal Google app for iPhone besides. Open the app, tap your contour picture at the tiptop-correct, and choose Settings. Select Vox and Assistant, then disable the "OK Google" hotword slider to prevent the app from starting searches using your vox.

To become further, yous can as well deny microphone permissions for the Google app (and the Google Banana app, if y'all keep information technology around). To do this, open up Settings on your iPhone and go to Privacy > Microphone. Disable the slider for Google and/or Google Assistant and they won't be able to access your microphone at all.

How to Turn Off Google Vox History

Turning off "OK Google" or Google Assistant on your telephone doesn't exercise anything for other devices you may own, such equally a tablet or Google Home device. Plus, Google can still keep voice data if you search by voice in Chrome.

To pause voice history for your entire Google business relationship, perform the following steps:

  1. Visit Google's Action Controls page and sign into your account if needed.
  2. Click the Web & App Activity section in a higher place the list of items.
  3. Uncheck the box labeled Include audio recordings to prevent Google from linking your vocalisation activity with your account.
Google Stop Including Audio Activity

Doing this will limit Google from storing audio recordings of voice functions on your account, which is your objective when you want Google to stop listening.

Once you do this, you should as well delete the by recordings Google has kept. Be enlightened that doing this volition delete all web activity connected to your Google account, non just voice recordings. To delete past activity:

  1. Render to the Google My Activity page.
  2. Click Delete activity by on the left side.
  3. Select All time to delete everything, or Custom range to ascertain your own time catamenia. Click Delete to erase everything you've selected.
Google Delete Activity By

Automatically Delete Google History After a Set up Time

Google allows you to automatically delete activity after a sure amount of time has passed. This reduces the amount of information the company keeps about you, without you having to do information technology manually all the time.

On the same Google My Activity page, click Web & App Activity over again. About the bottom of the box, click Automobile-delete. Here, you tin choose to automatically delete your Google activity after 3 months, eighteen months, 36 months, or never.

Google Auto Delete Activity

This isn't necessary if you've turned off voice data every bit discussed above. If yous left voice data enabled, keep in mind that this will remove all web activity, not just voice recordings.

What Does Google Do With Phonation Data?

It'southward of import to annotation that aside from Google, only you can access the vocalisation data stored in your Google account. That is, of course, unless an attacker breached Google.

Google explains that it uses your voice activity to help you get better results across its products, in ways like:

  • Learning the sound of your voice.
  • Understanding how you say words and phrases.
  • Recognizing when you say "OK Google."
  • Improving speech recognition across Google products that use your vox.

This is all useful, simply one of the biggest corporations in the world keeping records of what you say is nonetheless concerning. An algorithm could hands parse through this information to figure out what you're interested in based on what you say.

Using Google Banana Without Voice

Unless you plow off the feature completely, you tin can however enjoy the benefits of Google Assistant fifty-fifty without using your voice.

After you've opened Google Banana, tap the keyboard icon in the bottom-correct corner. This lets you blazon out a command for Google Assistant. It will respond simply like if you lot had spoken it.

This isn't as user-friendly, simply that's the cost of increased privacy. Of course, past using Google Banana at all, Google is notwithstanding able to run across what you're interested in and track you. If you'd rather avert this, try DuckDuckGo for Android instead.

Is My Phone Listening? You're in Command

We've gone over what Google listens for on your Android phone, how to delete your vocalization history information, and the methods for stopping this recording. You may endure a bit of inconvenience by disabling these features, simply knowing that Google isn't keeping a log of what you say is worth it.

Chances are that your figurer has a microphone, too. Don't forget that this can be a privacy risk also.

Why Your Reckoner Microphone Is a Real Privacy Concern

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Nearly The Author

Ben Stegner (1805 Articles Published)

Ben is the Editor in Chief at MakeUseOf. He left his It task to write full-fourth dimension in 2016 and has never looked back. He'southward been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more than as a professional writer for over viii years.

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