How to prevent devices from tracking you?

Smartphones and smart speakers can understand specific voice commands and activate functions accordingly.

However, you may not want your devices to be constantly on standby. Beyond privacy, smart gadget assistants can be accidentally activated, whether by someone in the house or even by a voice coming from the TV. Disabling constant monitoring can help, so we'll explain how to adjust your devices so they're not constantly on standby.

Keep in mind that this won't completely disable voice control. This means you'll need to manually enable the virtual assistant when you want to communicate with your gadgets.

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On the smartphone

If you don't want Google Pixel smartphone to respond to "Hey Google" all day long, go to Settings.

– Tap Apps, then scroll down and tap Assistant.

– Select Hey Google & Voice Match.

– In the same section, select “This device” and disable “Hey Google”.

To enable Google Assistant for voice interaction on your Pixel smartphone, press and hold the power button. On Samsung Galaxy devices, the process is similar. If you use Bixby, go to settings and enable Bixby Voice from the Apps screen.

On your iPhone, you use Siri, Apple. To stop your iPhone from listening for a "hey Siri" command:

– Open Settings.

– Select Siri & Search.

– Press Listen for and then Turn off.

You will no longer be able to activate Siri hands-free. You can still launch Siri for a conversation by pressing and holding the Side button (on the right side of your iPhone as you look at it), unless you turn it off in Siri & Search.

On your smart speaker

Smart speakers from Google, Apple, and Amazon automatically respond to voice commands, allowing you to get the weather or turn your lights on or off with a voice command. Regardless of which smart speaker model you have, you can adjust these settings.

If you're using a Google Nest speaker, you'll need to find the microphone mute switch. On the Nest Mini, it's on the bottom, on the Nest Audio on the back, and on Nest smart displays, it's on the top of the back. When you change the switch's position, the speaker will play a confirmation message. To restore Google Assistant, simply slide the switch back to its original position.

On Apple HomePod and Apple HomePod Mini, simply say “Hey Siri, stop listening” and then confirm the change. Alternatively, you can use the Home app available on your iPhone.

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– Select your HomePod speaker.
– Tap the gear icon (bottom right).
– Select Listen for “Siri” or “Hey Siri,” then turn the feature off.

To put your HomePod back into listening mode, you'll need to use the Home app, as the speaker won't automatically respond to voice commands. To manually put your HomePod into mode , press and hold the top of the speaker.

If you have an Amazon Echo speaker, like Google speakers, there's a physical switch to turn off the microphone. Whether you have an Echo with or without a screen, you'll see a button that looks like a circle with a line through it — tap it to turn off the device from listening for the "hey Alexa" command.

You'll hear a short tone, the button will turn red, and you'll see a red light on the bottom of the speaker or on the speaker's display. To talk to Alexa in the future through this device, you'll need to turn the microphone back on .

Even when the microphone on your smart speaker is turned off, you can still use other features like playing music. You just won't be able to activate these features with voice commands.

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The HomePod and HomePod Mini differ from Google and Amazon speakers in that you can communicate with the speaker even when it's not actively listening, simply by tapping the top. With Nest and Echo, you can turn the microphone on or off with a switch, allowing you to completely disable or enable voice interactions.

Source: popsci.com