How to Turn Off Annoying Command Responses on Your Google Home
Usually, you want an answer when you ask a question to your Google Home device. However, when you give a command – say, tell the Google Assistant to turn on the lights – you don’t really need a voice response. If you are distracted when your Google Home responds aloud to each command, there are several ways to turn off those responses.
Change the speech output of your Google Assistant
The best way to take care of Google command responses is to change the Assistant’s response settings, which you can do by opening the Google Home app on your phone and accessing the settings.
In the All Settings section, click Assistant Voice. Click Speech Output and you will see all your Google devices listed. Select the one you want to change the settings for, then tap Speakerphone Only. The Google Assistant will show the answers on your phone if this option is turned on, but will not speak them out loud.
You may also see options marked as “Complete”, “Brief”, or “None.” If you choose Brief, Google Assistant will still answer your commands out loud, but the answers will be shorter. Selecting “No” will disable them completely.
How to create custom commands in your Google Assistant
If that doesn’t work for you, you can try a workaround using Google Custom Commands with IFTTT. This process can be troublesome, but it can be helpful:
- Go to IFTTT.com and sign in or register.
- Click Search and search for Google Assistant.
- Click Google Assistant, then Connect.
- Enter the details of your Google account that you use for your Google Home.
- After connecting your account, click on “New Applet” under your username.
- Click this.
- Click Google Assistant.
- Fill in the trigger fields if you want to manage the command, then click Create Trigger.
- Click this.
- Select the action you want to take.
- Do not put anything other than the space for the answer section.
- Click Create Action, then Finish.
After that, you can use your own Google Commands to control your Google Home as usual, but adding a space in the Answers section ensures that the Assistant doesn’t say anything when you run the command.
How to set up or turn off “Ok Google”
If you have an issue with Google Assistant not responding, you can change your Hey Google settings. First, open the Google Home app and select the device you want.
Tap Device Settings, then Audio, then Hey Google Sensitivity. From there, you can adjust the sensitivity of the voice recognition. You should decrease the sensitivity if it reacts to background noise or other things that are not commands. If you want to avoid voice commands entirely, locate the microphone button on the back of Google Home and simply turn it off.