While we may not have flying cars or live life like George Jetson, technology plays a vital role in our lives. Many people love the convenience of having a voice assistant on their phones and other smart devices and find it incredibly helpful.
On the other hand, many people feel it’s a bit much and a massive invasion of their privacy. One of the first things they do when getting a new device is to turn off the voice assist features on their devices.
Today, we’ll help you discover how to turn off the voice assist on your devices and maintain a little more privacy. Let’s dive in!
What Is Voice Assist?
Voice assist is a feature on phones, tablets, and other smart technology devices that enable users to use certain features and get information using their voice. Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant are the most popular device assistants. These voice assist features recognize the user’s speech and then respond accordingly.
While the earliest editions were only for simple tasks like setting reminders and timers, they’re not much more complex and can connect to many smart features in homes today. You can adjust lighting and temperature and lock doors using voice assist software.
What Is the Point of Voice Assist?
There are many reasons why voice assist is a great feature. It makes it easy to do simple tasks like adding items to a shopping list when you notice you’re running low on a specific item. If you’re running around your kitchen or your hands are full, you can’t take the time to grab a pen and paper to write it down so you don’t forget. Using certain features on your phone while your hands are occupied can be incredibly helpful around the house.
Not only can a voice assistant be helpful in the house, but also in your car. You can significantly improve your safety by using a voice assist while driving. In fact, many states require drivers to be hands-free while driving.
The smart assist features can read received text messages and allow you to respond to them verbally while keeping your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.
In general, the point of voice assist features is to make the lives of technology users a little bit easier. We live in a very fast-paced society where multitasking is typically something we’re constantly doing. Having a little bit of help from our devices can help us be as efficient as possible with our time and energy.
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What Devices Have Voice Assist?
While voice assist originated as a feature primarily found on smartphones and tablets, you can find the technology on many more devices today. It’s not uncommon to see smart speakers, smartwatches, and smart TVs.
However, you can also find these features in less expected places like microwaves and vehicles. Many technology manufacturers recognize the popularity and demand for products with voice assist and are finding ways to include them in their products.
How Do I Turn Off Voice Assist on My iPhone?
Siri may be a great feature on your iPhone, but you may want to turn it off for one reason or another. To do this, open up the “Settings” app on your iPhone and click “Siri & Search.” If you’re like most users, you used the default options when setting up your phone. There will be a few options under the “Ask Siri” section. A box will pop up after you turn off all available options. Click “yes” when it asks if you’d like to turn Siri off.
It’s important to note that this will remove access to all of Siri’s voice assist features. If you decide you want to return to turn Siri back on, you’ll need to run through the voice recognition setup again so it can relearn your voice.
How Do I Deactivate Voice Assistant on Android?
If you have an Android device, it likely uses Google Assistant for its voice assist technology. You’ll need to open up the “Google” app on your device and click “More” in the bottom right corner of the screen. Tap on “Settings” and then scroll to “Google Assistant.”
Find your way to the “Assistant Devices” section and tap on each device you want to restrict from Google Assistant. You can tap on the “Google Assistant” to toggle it off, and the feature will turn off across your devices.
How Do I Turn Off Samsung Voice Assistant?
Samsung devices often come loaded with Bixby as its voice assistant. However, it’s not nearly as great as others, and there are plenty of reasons why you might want to turn it off. While you can’t completely uninstall it, there are ways for you to deactivate it.
To turn off the Samsung voice assistant, you’ll need to reset Bixby. Go to the “Settings” app on your phone and click “Apps.” Scroll until you find “Bixby Voice.” From there, tap on “Storage” and then “Clear Cache” and “Clear Data” before tapping “OK” to confirm your choice. You can then navigate back and click “Disable” under the Bixby Voice app. It will ask you to confirm your decision to disable it and click “Confirm.”
How Do I Turn Off Voice Assist on TVs?
Voice assist is a new feature many TV manufacturers include on their products to help make it easier and more convenient. However, sometimes the feature can be clunky or frustrating to use. If you’re tired of the voice assist feature on your TV, you can easily turn it off.
While the process for turning off the voice assist feature will vary from one TV to the next, they’re typically very similar.
You’ll first want to turn on the TV and press the menu button on the remote control. Use the arrows to navigate to the “Settings” option in the menu. Look for the general settings section and scroll to accessibility. You’ll then likely see an option for a voice guide where you can click the option to turn it off. The various terms used in the menu may differ slightly for your specific unit. When in doubt, check the documentation for your TV or do an internet search for your specific TV model.
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Do I Need to Turn Off Voice Assist?
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed the benefits of technology. However, technology is only beneficial when it works. There are a host of reasons why technology can fail and let us down. In those times, it’s incredibly frustrating, and you’ll want to go back to simpler days.
Many people have privacy concerns regarding the voice assist features on smart devices. Having a smart device that’s constantly listening can be problematic. There’s a reason why you see certain ads while browsing the internet. Companies will sell the data from smart devices to marketing companies to help them curate targeted ads for you.
While there isn’t someone sitting at their desk listening to your every word, we can understand why some would be uncomfortable with this idea.
Do you find yourself turning off voice assist often? Why? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
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