Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where the built-in voice assistant begins to annoy with its constant presence. Random activations in the pocket, the appearance of a widget on the desktop or intrusive offers to “help” can significantly reduce the comfort of using the device, especially for users who prefer manual commands or use third-party solutions for voice control.
Fortunately, the Android operating system in the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS provides flexible tools to manage these features. You can not just disable activation by button, but also completely prevent the system from using a specific assistant by default. In this article, we will discuss all the available methods, from simple settings to radical measures through the engineering menu.
It is worth noting that it is impossible to completely “cut” the system application from memory without root rights, since it is part of the system. GMS (Google Mobile Services, or firmware, but making it completely inactive and invisible in everyday use is a real challenge. Here are the proven ways to help you regain control of your smartphone.
⚠️ Before making changes to system settings, make sure you don’t use the dictation or smart home management features tied to a standard assistant.
Disabling activation with button and gestures
The most common source of irritation is the accidental launch of the assistant when you unlock the screen or press the power button long enough. In modern versions of the shells from Xiaomi, this functionality is enabled by default. To remove the voice assistant from the button, you need to change the corresponding parameter in the special features menu.
Go to Settings → Additional Settings → Special Features. Here you need to find a item associated with Google Assistant or Google Voice Assistant. Depending on the version of MIUI, the path may be slightly different, but the logic remains the same: we are looking for a switch that responds to long-term pressing.
- 🔍 Find the "Voice" or "Digital Assistant" section in the list».
- 🚫 Switch the slider to the “Off” position or select “No” in the action list.
- 📱 Check the reaction of the power button: now a long press should call the off menu, not the assistant.
If you have an older firmware version or global build, the path can look like Settings → Google → Settings for Google apps → Search and Assistant → Google Assistant → Phone. You should also disable the option “Google Assistant” here. This action is guaranteed to remove the system’s response to physical buttons, but will not delete the application itself.
⚠️ Note: On some models with a button AI (Artificial intelligence) to the left of the case, the shutdown may require reassigning the function through the button menu AI» button-setting.
Removing the widget and disabling on the lock screen
Often, users want to simply clear the desktop of an intrusive widget that takes up space and can be activated accidentally. The Google or Assistant widget on the home screen is not just a shortcut, but an active interface element. Deleting it doesn't disable the service itself, but eliminates visual noise.
To remove the widget, click on it and hold your finger until the edit menu appears. Select the "Delete" option or drag the item to the top of the screen where the basket icon appears. However, if the assistant appears on the lock screen when swiping from the corner, you need to look deeper for the settings.
To disable access from the locked screen, follow the following steps:
- Open your phone settings and search for the word “Block”.
- Go to the Passwords and Security menu → Screen lock.
- Find the option “Settings of the lock screen” or “Advanced settings”.
- Turn off the option “Access to the Assistant” or “Personal Results”.
It’s also worth checking the settings of the Google app itself. Go to Google Settings → Search and Assistant → Assistant → Phone and turn off the “Access from the Lock Screen” option, which will prevent voice search from running when the phone is lying on the table screen up.
Complete disabling through application settings
If simple switches don't work, or you want to ensure that the assistant's background processes don't consume battery power, you can use the application management system menu, which allows you to force the service to stop and prevent it from starting automatically.
It's important to understand the difference between uninstalling updates and completely uninstalling them. We can't uninstall a system packet without superuser rights, but we can roll it back to the factory version and disable it, which makes the application invisible to the system and the user.
The algorithm of actions is as follows:
- 📂 Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications.
- 🔍 In search, type “Google” or search in the list “Google” (logo of the letter G).
- 🛑 Click the “Disable” button (if available) or “Delete Updates” button, and then again “Disable».
Once you disable the main Google app, the Assistant will also stop functioning because it depends on it. However, this can affect the voice input in the keyboard of Gboard and other services of the company. If you are only interested in the Assistant, try to find the Google Assistant (often has a logo with four colors) in the list of applications and turn it off only.
☑️ Checklist for full shutdown
Comparison of methods of disconnecting assistants
The choice of method depends on your ultimate goal: whether you want to just stop seeing the widget, or whether your goal is to completely free RAM from Google processes.
| Method | Difficulty | Impact on the system | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turning off the button | Low. | Minimum | Removes only the start on the button |
| Removal of the widget | Low. | Absent. | Visual Screen Cleaning Only |
| Disconnection in settings | Medium | Average (may affect Search) | High (blocks background work) |
| ADB-team | Tall. | Significant | Maximum (full concealment) |
As you can see from the table, for most users, a combination of the first two is enough, but if you're an advanced user and want to maximize system performance, it's worth considering deeper interventions.
What happens if you turn off Google completely?
Using ADB for Advanced Users
For those who are not afraid of the command line and want to achieve guaranteed results, there is a method using ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which allows you to hide system packages so that they will not appear even in the list of installed applications, which is the most radical, but also the most effective method.
You will need a computer (Windows, macOS or Linux) to start with), USB-cable and on-line debugging USB The developer menu is turned on by tapping the build number seven times in the About Phone menu, and once you connect the phone to the PC and install the drivers, you can type in commands.
The basic commands for removing the Assist components are as follows:
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.apps.googleassistantThe first command removes the search widget and the news feed, the second one removes the Assistant module itself, and once these commands are executed, the functions will not be available until you reset the phone to factory settings, which is a powerful tool that requires caution.
💡
Save the packet list before deleting! Use the command `adb shell pm list packages > packages.txt`, To be able to restore the system in case of an error.
Specificity of Mi AI and Chinese versions of firmware
Special attention should be paid to users who own smartphones imported from China or installed Chinese firmware, which has its own voice assistant Mi AI (Xiao Ai), which works in parallel with or instead of Google, and it is more difficult to remove it using standard methods, since it is deeply integrated into the system.
In Chinese versions MIUI There is often no possibility of a full shutdown of the Mi. AI In this case, the only way out is through the standard menu. ADB-commands to freeze the corresponding com.miui.voiceassist packets. You can also try to change the region in the settings ("Settings» → «Additionally» → «Region”) to another country, which sometimes changes the behaviour of system services.
If you use global firmware but see interface elements typical of the Chinese version, it is possible that the phone has a third-party SEO app from Xiaomi that imposes the use of their ecosystem, in which case it is recommended to check the list of recently installed applications and remove suspicious utilities.
⚠️ Note: Removal of Mi system components AI through ADB Chinese firmware can cause unstable launcher or camera operation, as these modules are often interconnected.
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Use of the ADB-Teams are the only way to completely remove system components of assistants at the packet level without root rights, but it requires PCs and caution.