How to permanently disable Google Assistant on Xiaomi: Detailed Guide 2026

Google Assistant on Xiaomi smartphones is often activated by accident — just press the Home button or say "OK, Google." For many users, this feature becomes a source of annoyance: it eats up battery power, collects data about your requests and interferes with your game or video. Unfortunately, MIUI does not offer an obvious way to completely remove the assistant, but there are several workarounds.

In this article, we will discuss 5 disabling methods, from standard settings to deep changes in the system (including ADB and rollback updates). All instructions are tested on the Xiaomi 13 Pro, Redmi Note 12 and POCO X5 with MIUI 14, but will also work for older versions. Importantly, some methods require developer or unlocked bootloader rights – we will warn about the risks in advance.

Why Google Assistant doesn’t shut down through standard settings

The main problem is integrating Google services at the firmware level. Even if you turn off voice activation in Google settings → Settings → Google Assistant, the system will continue:

• 🔋 Run in the background, consuming up to 5% charge per day (according to AccuBattery).
• 🎤 Listen to voice commands through the microphone, even when the screen is locked.
• 📱 Intercept the press of the Home button (on some models).
• 🔄 Automatically update via Google Play, returning the previous settings.

The fact is that MIUI uses a modified version of the Google App, where some of the functions of the assistant are hard sewn into system processes. For example, on Xiaomi 12T, even after resetting the settings, the Assistant recovers after 2-3 days, the solution is one: block it at the system resolution level or remove key components.

Method 1: Disconnect via Google Settings (partial)

This method will not remove the Assistant completely, but it minimizes its activity, and is suitable for users who want to keep access to other Google features (such as Google Search or Google Maps).

1. Open the Google app (the icon with the color letter "G").
2. Slip on the avatar in the upper right corner → Settings.
3. Choose Google Assistant → General.
4. Turn off all switches: 🔍 Google Assistant (Main Tumbler) 🎤 Voice input 📱 Assistant on the lock screen

Settings

The device

Personalization

Limitations of the method:

• ⚠️ The assistant will remain on the list of applications and will consume up to 100-150 MB of memory.
• ⚠️ When you update Google App settings can reset.

💡

To check if the Assistant is disabled, say "OK, Google" or press the Home button for 2 seconds, and if nothing happens, the first step is successful.

Method 2: Lock through MIUI settings (without root)

MIUI allows you to limit the background activity of applications, including system ones, which does not require superuser rights, but can lead to errors in the work of other Google services (for example, Gmail or YouTube).

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Click on the three points in the top corner → Show the system.
3. Find Google (not to be confused with Google Play Services!) and tap it.
4. Select Battery → Background Limit → Limit.
5. Go back and press Permissions. Turn it off: 🎤 Microphone 📍 Location 📱 Overlay of other applications

Critical detail: After these actions, the Assistant will cease to respond to voice commands, but can continue to start when holding the Home button. To fix this, additional gesture adjustments are required (see Method 4).

Method 3: Remove Google App Updates (for MIUI 12-14)

The standard Google app on Xiaomi can’t be removed completely, but you can roll it back to the factory version where Assistant is missing or is buggy.This method is effective on 80% of devices, but requires caution.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management → Google.
2. Click on the three dots in the top corner → Remove updates.
3. Confirm the action. The app will go back to the version that was used when you bought the phone.
4. It's important, right after that: 🔒 Stop Automatic Updating: Google Play → Menus. → Settings → Auto-update of applications → Never. 📵 Turn off the Internet for Google Play Store (via Settings) → The Internet and the Internet → Transfer of data).

⚠️ Note: After rollback, some Google features may not work properly (e.g. Google Photos won't sync). MIUI The assistant can come back.

Method 4: Reassign the Home button (for gesture controls)

If Assistant is triggered by holding the Home button, the problem can be solved by reassigning this action to another function, which works on both touch buttons and gestures in MIUI 13/14.

1. Open Settings → System → Gestures (or buttons and gestures on older versions).
2. Select the Home button (or Hold the Home button).
3. In the action list, select: 🔄 Last application (switching between tasks) 🔍 Search (standard search by phone) 🚫 No action (complete shutdown of reaction)

Save the changes and restart the phone.

🔹 For gesture-controlled devices (e.g. Xiaomi 13 or POCO F4):

• Go to Settings → Additional → Special features → Gestures.
• Turn off the Retention for the Assistant.

Check the MIUI version (should be at least 12.5)

Make a backup copy of the gesture settings

Make sure the developer mode is on (if required)

Disable Assistant in Google Settings (Method 1)

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Method 5: Complete disabling via ADB (for advanced)

If previous methods failed, the system-level locking with the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is the most reliable way, but requires connecting the phone to a computer and basic command line knowledge.

🔹 What's the matter:

• 💻 Computer with installed ADB Drivers (download from the official website).
• 📱 Included Developer Mode and Debugging by USB Xiaomi.
• 🔌 USB-cable (preferably original).

🔹 Step-by-step instruction:

1. Connect the phone to the PC and allow debugging (a request will appear on the phone screen).
2. Open the command line (Win + R → enter cmd).
3. Enter the commands in turn: adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.googleassistant
4. Reboot your phone: adb reboot.

⚠️ Note: These commands will remove the Google app for the current user, which may result in the user being:

• 🔍 Losing a quick search on the phone.
• 📱 Errors in the Google Play Market.
• 🔄 Manual installation requirements APK, If you need to return the functionality.

🔹 How to get it back:

adb shell


pm install-existing --user 0 com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox




pm enable com.google.android.apps.googleassistant

💡

ADB-Teams only work until the next reset or major update MIUI. After the upgrade of the firmware, the procedure will have to be repeated.

Frequent problems and their solutions

Even after a shutdown, the Assistant can return or work in the background, and here are the typical situations and ways to fix them:

🔹 If nothing helps:

• 📲 Install a launcher from a third-party developer (like Nova Launcher) where you can turn off gestures.
• 🔧 Reflash your phone to custom firmware without Google services (for example, LineageOS).
• 🛡️ Use App Ops (permissions management app) for deep locking.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions