topic Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub in Speakers and Displays

Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

dmorlow — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 01:29:47 GMT

I know it's a silly question... But I bought a bunch of google assistants. I like the photo frame and being able to see our photos all over the house and they're always changing. Also, I like that I can broadcast to all the displays a message. But, the problem is our kids will constantly talk to it. They don't stop. I'll yell at them to stop messing with it and 5 minutes later they're messing with it again. It never ends. I then caught one of my kids unplugging one and bringing it to their room so they could watch videos all night when I have their phone locked. So, I basically took down all of the hubs in our house except 1 in our main area. Now I have like $300 worth of Google Hubs sitting in my closet not being used.

How can I disable the google assistant on a Google Hub? All I want the display to do is show pictures and broadcast when I broadcast a message.

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

Ashepherdson — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 01:29:57 GMT

Yep just flip the switch on the back of the device and that will disable the microphone!

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

dmorlow — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 01:30:44 GMT

I know about the switch. It would be no time until the kids know about it too.

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

Ashepherdson — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 01:34:35 GMT

I suppose what you could do is turn the ok Google sensitivity to least sensitive so that they would have trouble activating it, hopefully making them leave it alone. The only other thing I could think of would be to block the microphone ports so that it can't "hear" the commands.

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

SaltyDoug42 — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:34:37 GMT

Try a dab of 5-minute epoxy on the microphone switch, once it is turned off.

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

Genericlastname — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 03:02:12 GMT

@dmorlow my kids do the same thing 😞 I had to do some pretty complicated timers through my home wifi to shut off internet to these devices at certain times. It’s a mess. I’m following this conversation

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

dmorlow — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 22:21:36 GMT

So I've put many layers of electrical tape over the two holes that are off center at the top. It still responds to ok Google

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

rodford56 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 01:10:40 GMT

Set them up so it only recognizer your voice only for commands

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

dmorlow — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 01:18:17 GMT

How do you do that? I saw the option where I can personalize it to my voice. But, it's still going to respond to others... just not with my personalization.

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

rodford56 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 01:23:40 GMT

oh i thought if you personalized it, it would only recognize your voice only, i am new to all this google home setup

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

Ashepherdson — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 01:24:54 GMT

When you add your voice, what it does it gives you personalized responses, so you can say things like show me my calendar, and it will know which calendar to use. Anyone can still control it by voice, just personalized stuff wont work right.

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

dmorlow — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 02:58:21 GMT

Well, I just bought a toolkit and watched someone take one of these apart. I'll just remove the screen and remove the switch. (I have like 4 of these hubs sitting in my closet not being used... so if I break one, whatever.)

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

GarrettDS — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 19:49:55 GMT

Hi All,

Thank you to Ashepherdson and everyone for sharing and discussing your ideas!

I just wanted to jump in and share another suggestion, downtime.

With downtime implemented:

Your device won’t respond to most commands or questions. Commands to stop or cancel activities will still work.
You won’t receive notifications on your device.
Routines won’t work unless you started one before you turned on Downtime.
Activities that started before Downtime begins will continue. For example, you can play music before Downtime starts, and it'll continue to play until you stop it.
You can set an alarm or timer, or ask for the time.
You can use commands to control your smart devices for home automation, like when you ask your Assistant to turn the lights on or off.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Re: Disable Google Assistant on a Google Hub

GarrettDS — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 22:25:39 GMT

Hey folks,
It looks like we haven't heard back from the OP so I'm going to go ahead and lock the thread. If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to create a new thread.

Have a great day,
Garrett DS