How to prevent Alexa, Cortana, Siri, Google Assistant and Bixby from registering

At best, voice assistants from Microsoft, Apple, Google, Samsung and Amazon allow us to be more productive. They line up for our favorite songs, give us glimpses of our weekly programs and make phone calls to friends and loved ones. But they also record the commands we utter for posterity (and in some cases, a human revision), which, as one might expect, is not suitable for everyone.

Fortunately, most wizards can be disabled, disabled, or otherwise blocked in a few simple steps. Here is a guide for doing this and for removing the voice clips they have managed to record in the meantime.

Alexa from Amazon

The easiest way to remove voice recordings from Alexa is to use the Alexa app for iOS and Android.

1. Touch the menu icon at the top left of the screen and select the settings shortcut.
2. Search Alexa account. Tap Alexa Privacy – this is where the transcribed requests you asked Alexa were, along with the times they were recorded and the device that recorded them. (From time to time, you will see entries where it says "Text not available – the audio was not meant for Alexa," indicating that Alexa was mistakenly invoked.) You can sort by date, read or delete them.

You can also manage Alexa records from the web.

1. Go to Amazon Alexa Privacy page. You'll see shortcuts to settings screens that not only collect your voice history, but also allow you to view the history of your Smart Alert (events such as broken glass or smoke and CO alarms). detected by Alexa), manage the history The third-party Alexa (skills) applications have requested permission to access your data and manage the way your voice data is used to improve Alexa.
2. the Review of the voice history The menu largely reflects the experience of the application: you can sort records by date range, listen to them or delete them individually or as a block. Ditto for Review Smart Alert History – it displays events, details, and listenable snippets sorted by date.
3. Selection of Manage the improvement of your Alexa data This shortcut will take you to a toggle that, when disabled, prevents the use of your voice recordings in the development of new Alexa features. (Amazon warns that "new features may not work properly" for users who choose not to participate.) Here you will also see a switch prohibiting Amazon from using messages sent via Alexa Messaging – Amazon's voice and text messaging service – to improve the accuracy of transcription.

Microsoft Cortana

Microsoft Cortana ships on machines running Windows 10 and has an ambient listening feature that allows it to respond to commands when a microphone connected to your PC hears the phrase "Hey Cortana." It is relatively easy to prevent it from listening and recording your search habits. and history while keeping the keyboard-based search functionality intact.

1. Click on the search box in the Windows 10 taskbar and type "Cortana".
2. To select Cortana Settings & Search, then click Speak to Cortana. You will see a rocker next to Hey Cortana. Click on it.

If Cortana on your device collects data that you prefer to keep confidential, you can go further by disabling its information-gathering capabilities, which will prevent your device from sending voice and telemetry data to Microsoft. .

1. Back to the Cortana Settings & Search menu and select the Authorizations and history shortcut.
2. Disable all toggles and click Cortana through all my devices.
3. Disable the buttons here too.
4. Return to the top of the page and click Manage information that Cortana can access from this device. Turn off each rocker.
5. Now click Privacy settings for speech, inking and typing and select Disable Chat Services and Typing Suggestions.
6. Go back to the Cortana settings page and click Change what Cortana knows about me in the cloud.
7. Scroll down the Your personal information page that appears in the startup panel and click Clear.

Apple's Siri

To disable Apple's Siri, you must quickly dive into the iOS or macOS settings screen, depending on the device you are using.

If you're using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch on iOS 11 or iOS 12 beta, try this:

1. Head to the settings menu and select Siri & Research.
2. Find Listen Hey Siri and Press Home for Siri. Turn off both and tap the confirmation messages that appear at the bottom of the screen.

Older versions of iOS (iOS 10 and earlier) require an extra step:

1. Start the settings menu, then press General and Siri.
2. Disable Siri, which also turns off Allow "Hey Siri."
3. Tap Turn off Siri when you are asked to confirm your choice.

Then you will want to disable voice dictation.

1. Head to the settings menu and press General.
2. To select Keyboards and switch Enable dictation.
3. Tap Disable dictation when you are asked to confirm your choice.

So, what about PCs running macOS? Here's how to turn off Siri on these devices:

1. On the desktop, click on the Apple menu in the upper right corner and select System Preferences.
2. Click on Siriand uncheck the box next to Activate Ask Siri. Note that this will remove the Siri icon from the menu bar.

Disabling voice dictation in macOS is just as easy:

1. Back to the System Preferences menu and click Keyboard.
2. Select the Of radio button next to Dictation.

Google Assistant

Disabling voice recording and pickup from Google Assistant is not very difficult, but the steps differ from platform to platform.

On an Android phone or tablet, here is the most reliable way to prevent Assistant from listening to commands:

1. Touch and hold the virtual home (or physical) button on your phone or say "OK, Google."
2. Tap the icon in the lower-left corner, followed by the profile shortcut in the upper-right corner.
3. To select settings, press the Assistant tab, and scroll down to Peripheral wizards. Choose your phone from the list.
4. In the Google Assistant section at the top of this screen (under "Adjust wizard settings on this device"), tap the blue slider.

If you do not see the cursor described above, you are probably using an older Android device and you should try this instead:

1. Follow steps 1 to 3 above.
2. Search OK Google Detection and the Say OK Google at any time option. Tap on it.

If you want to disable the Wizard in a Wear OS smart watch, try it:

1. Press the settings of the watch face or press the physical crown button on your watch and scroll settings shortcut.
2. To choose personalizationand from there, select Disable OK Google Detection.

The Google Assistant accepts typed commands and voice commands. To disable the latter, follow these instructions:

1. Open the settings menu and press Google Assistant.
2. To select Microphone and slide the rocker.

Regardless of the platform on which you used the wizard, any audio transcripts that it has collected are always accessible in one click. My activity menu in the Google Account page.

1. Head toward My activity and click Filter by product and date.
2. Check the Assistantand click the search button (for a complete list of records) or filter by date, or search for a specific word or phrase.
3. As with Amazon's voice recording dashboard, snippets can be read or zapped individually. To delete one, click on the button Details Click the shortcut under the transcript, and then click the points in the box that appears. Select Delete.
4. To delete all of your wizard history, return to the main page. My activity menu and select Delete activity by. Switch to Assistant and specify the date range, keyword, or subject.

Samsung Bixby

Samsung's Bixby wizard is present on a number of the company's flagship and medium-sized smartphones, including the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note9. It includes a number of components, but it's easy enough to turn off Bixby Voice, its voice function.

First, go to Bixby Home – the leftmost dashboard on your phone's home screen – by quickly tapping the Bixby physical button.

1. Select the menu icon in the upper right corner and press settings.
2. Disable the cursor next to Bixby Voice.

Bixby records up to seven days of orders (and answers). Here's how to access it:

1. Press the Bixby physical button and select More options.
2. Tap My bixbythen L & # 39; s history. You will see a list of statements in chronological order, with quick links (Propose another sentence) to correct any misinterpretation.
3. Press the Wipe off in the upper right corner of the screen and the radio icons next to the items you want to erase.

This guide is not necessarily exhaustive and some menus and settings options may change in the future (we will update the corresponding sections in the same way). But hopefully, it will give you more control over voice data that your speakers, phones, tablets, and smart computers collect every day.