How to completely disable Google voice search on Xiaomi smartphones: a step-by-step guide

Google's voice search on Xiaomi smartphones can be useful, but not everyone likes it intrusively: a pop-up when holding the Home button, randomly triggering phrases in a conversation, or an unnecessary button on the lock screen all annoy and interfere with comfortable phone use. Fortunately, there are several ways to disable Google's voice assistant on Xiaomi, and we'll go through each of them in detail.

In this article, you will find the current instructions for MIUI 12, 13 and 14, including hidden settings that are not always obvious. We will also explain how to remove voice search from the lock screen, disable voice activation, and even delete the Google app (if you don’t need it at all).

Why Google Voice Search is Getting Bad on Xiaomi

Many Xiaomi smartphone owners are faced with the fact that the voice assistant Google Assistant is activated accidentally, this happens for several reasons:

• 🔊 Microphone Sensitivity: Phone responds to phrases like “OK, Google” even in noisy environments.
• 📱 Uncomfortable button location: Holding Home or Recent calls helper instead of the expected action.
• 🔒 The button on the lock screen: some firmware MIUI Add a voice search icon directly to the locked screen.
• 📲 Automatic updates: after the update of Google Play Services, settings can be reset.

And voice search consumes additional battery and CPU resources even if you're not using it, which is especially noticeable on the budget Redmi or POCO models, where every percentage of the charge counts. If you're not using voice commands, it makes sense to completely deactivate this feature.

Method 1: Disable via Google Settings (without root)

The easiest and safest method is to deactivate the voice assistant in the settings of the Google app, which works on all Xiaomi smartphones with MIUI 12-14 and does not require administrator rights.

Instructions:

1. Open the Google app (an icon with a colored letter “G”).
2. Slip on your profile (avatar in the upper right corner).
3. Select Settings → Voice search.
4. Go to Voice Match (or OK Google).
5. Turn off the sliders: 🔘 Recognition, OK Google» 🔘 Unlocking with voice Match

Voice access

Use voice access

After this action, the assistant will stop responding to voice commands. However, the button on the lock screen and activation by holding the Home button may remain - they must be disabled separately (see the following methods).

Method 2: Remove the voice search button from the lock screen

Many Xiaomi users complain about an unnecessary microphone icon on the lock screen, which takes up space and can be triggered by accidental pressing, which can be removed through the MIUI settings, but the path depends on the firmware version.

For MIUI 13/14:

1. Go to Settings → Lock screen.
2. Select Additional Settings (or Advanced Settings).
3. Find Google Voice Search and turn it off.

For MIUI 12:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Slip on the three dots in the top corner and select Show System Processes.
3. Find Google or Google App, open its settings.
4. Select Notifications and turn off the Lock Screen.

If the icon is left, try resetting the lock screen settings:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
2. Select Reset the lock screen settings (not to be confused with a full reset!).
3. Confirm the action.

Method 3: Disable Activation by Holding the Home button

One of the most annoying features is calling voice search when you press the Home button long enough, which is a behavior that's embedded in MIUI firmware, but it can be changed.

Option 1 (for MIUI 13/14):

1. Open the settings → buttons and gestures.
2. Select the Home button (or Navigation buttons).
3. Find Long Click and set Do Nothing or Google Assistant (disabled).

Option 2 (for older versions of MIUI):

1. Install a third-party gesture-setting app, such as Button Mapper.
2. Give him special options in settings.
3. Select the Home button and assign any other action (or turn it off) to a long press.

💡

If after turning off the Home button stopped working correctly, try restarting the phone or resetting gesture settings in Settings → System → Resettings → Reset gesture settings.

Method 4: Remove or roll back Google App Updates

If previous methods didn’t work, you can try to remove Google app updates or uninstall it altogether (on some firmware), a radical way, but it’s guaranteed to remove all voice search features.

How to remove updates:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find Google (or Google App) and tap it.
3. Click on the three dots in the top corner and select Remove Updates.
4. Confirm the action.

Command for ADB (PC connection required):

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

This command will completely disable the Google app, including search and assistant.

adb shell pm enable com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

💡

Removing updates or disabling through ADB may disrupt other Google services (such as Gmail or YouTube).

Method 5: Using root rights to remove completely (for advanced)

If you are willing to take drastic measures and have root access, you can completely remove voice search components, which is suitable for users who do not use Google services at all (for example, on Chinese firmware).

Instructions:

1. Install a file manager with root support (such as Root Explorer or FX File Explorer).
2. Go to /system/priv-app/Velvet/ or /system/priv-app/GoogleQuickSearchBox/
3. Delete or rename the folder (for example, in Velvet.bak).
4. Also check the folders: /system/app/GoogleQuickSearchBox/ /data/app/com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox/
5. Reboot the phone.

Google voice search will then be removed at the system level, but this may result in other features such as:

• 🔍 Search for Google Chrome or YouTube.
• 📧 Notifications from Gmail or Google Calendar.
• 📱 Some gestures in MIUI, Google Assistant-bound.

Comparison of methods: which way to choose?

Not all methods are equally effective and safe, and in the table below we compare them by key parameters:

For most users, the first three are enough, and methods with ADB or root should only be used if you are confident in your actions and ready for the possible consequences.

💡

Before any manipulation of system files, make a backup through Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset.

Frequent problems and their solutions

Even after disabling voice search, Xiaomi users may face a return of the feature.

Problem 1: After the Google Play Services update, voice search is activated again.

⚠️ Attention: Google Play Services automatically restores some settings. To avoid this, disable the auto-update for the Google app in the Play Store or use the ADB, to block the updates (see Method 4).

Problem 2: The button on the lock screen returns after the reboot.

This is typical of some MIUI firmware where settings are reset.

• 🔄 Try resetting the lock screen settings (see Method 2).
• 📱 Install an alternative launcher (like Nova Launcher) that lets you configure the lock screen.
• 🔧 Use it. ADB, to disable the system application responsible for the button (the command below).

adb shell pm hide com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

Problem 3: Voice search is activated via headphones or Bluetooth devices.

This is because Google Assistant can fire commands from connected gadgets to disable:

1. Open the settings → Connected devices.
2. Choose your headphones or column.
3. Turn off Google Voice Assistant (if any).
4. In Google settings (see Method 1), disable Voice access via Bluetooth.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions