If you don’t have any use for Google Assistant on the Pixel or the Pixel XL, then let me show you how to completely turn it off on the phone.
Google officially launched Google Assistant on the Pixel phones this year. This was first introduced back at Google I/O earlier in the year, and has since been integrated into a few of Google’s products. There’s a version of Google Assistant built into their Allo messaging application, and another version is built into Google Home.
Then there’s a third version that comes in Google’s new Pixel phones, but not everyone likes it.
I recently showed you how to disable the OK Google hotword trigger on any Android device. If you like Google Assistant, but dislike having it activate when that hotword is said, you’ll want to follow that linked guide. However, some people may feel the desire to disable Google Assistant altogether. Maybe they want a little extra battery life with their phone, or maybe they just don’t want the service running on their phone all the time.
Thankfully Google has given us a way to disable Google Assistant on the Pixel and Pixel XL, and you can do this by following these steps below.
Disabling Google Assistant on the Pixel
- Launch the Google application
- Tap on the Navigation menu icon at the top left
- Tap on the Settings option
- Tap on the Settings option within the Google Assistant section at the top
- Then toggle the Google Assistant option off
Explanation
There are a number of reasons why someone would want to turn Google Assistant off on their phone. While Google has optimized the phone for battery life, having this service running in the background will use up more battery than if you had disabled it. The difference will not likely be anything drastic, but in the overall scheme of things, it can save you a bit of battery life. Some also dislike to have services running when they don’t have any need for it.
This just makes sense too, and it is why I disable or uninstall any application that I will never use on my phone. Whatever the reason is, I’m glad to see that Google has given us the ability to disable Google Assistant and to do that we first need to launch the Google application. Unless you have this somewhere in your Home Screen, you’ll want to open up the App Drawer and then scroll down so you can tap and launch the Google application.
Once the Google app is open, you’ll want to expand the Navigation Menu by either tapping on the icon at the top left, or swiping in from the left side of the screen. This should reveal a list of options and there should be a Settings option that you’ll want to tap toward the bottom. This will bring you to the settings page for the Google app, but there is a dedicated Google Assistant feature at the top of this page.
Tap on the Settings option you see at the top, and then scroll down a bit until you see the Google Assistant toggle on the next page. This toggle will completely disable Google Assistant on your Pixel or Pixel XL. You can come back here to turn it back on at any time you want, so don’t feel scared that you’ll turn it off and never get it turned back on again. You just have to follow these steps again and you can turn Google Assistant back on.
You can even long press on the Home button to attempt to activate Google Assistant too (even when the feature has been disabled). If it has previously been turned off when you do this, then you’ll be asked if you want to turn Google Assistant on again. So there are multiple ways to turn this feature back on if you want to try it out again in the future.
Excellent tip there. I’m going to try and Disable Google Assistant to save me some battery power. I’ll give this a try. I’m a huge fan of Google Pixel since it takes high res photos with unlimited storage. I was able to get my google pixel from this giveaway here – http://bit.ly/2gIJ6qZ – It arrived within a week. But other than that I’m a huge fan of the Pixel thus far.
Useless. How does one *remove* Google assistant from showing up on the home page?
The home page of what? The Home Screen launcher? Are you wanting to remove the ‘pill’ shaped G icon at the top of the Pixel Home Screen?
I can’t stand the new assistant crap myself. On my HTC One m8 I go to settings, then go to your apps. Once there scroll down to ur Google app and hit the uninstall update then restart your phone
Is there any way to completely and PERMANENTLY disable it? I would have absolutely no use for it as I prefer to type my searches the old fashioned way, it would be really annoying to have it try to turn back on every time I accidentally hold the home key too long; having the regular google app pop up from that on my galaxy s6 is annoying and useless enough as is.
Try this. Go to home screen and hit languages and input. Make sure you are using English on that next page. ✓. Then press add a language on the next page. Then select English from the list. Then when prompted to use a region select ( Us Virgin Islands). Once you’ve done that you will be taken back to the language preference menu. From there tap and hold the Us Virgin islands you selected and slide it to the top of of the list. Kinda like when you use your pull down screen and rearrange how you want your icons to show in what ever order you want. Hope this helps. This is the ONLY thing I could find for 2017. P.s. I don’t have your style of phone but it should be pretty much the same on other phones
Sorry, lack of screamshot, makes this tutorial useless. No idea where the 5h1tty Assistant is hidden. Just want to f-disk the 8a5tard.
There’s two screenshots and a full video that walks you through the entire process