How to remove Google Assistant app icon from app drawer?

[Android Central Question]

Title says it all really. Is there a way to remove it as it is really bugging me since I won't ever use the Assistant. This popped up on my phone today out of the blue. Couldn't find any setting to remove it from my app drawer and it's so annoying.

 

[djrakowski]

Welcome to Android Central!

Try this: open Settings->Apps, then scroll through the list until you find the Google Assistant. Tap on it, then tap "Force Stop," then "Uninstall" (if that's available) or "Disable" (which is what you're more likely to see).

If you need additional help or have more questions or details to share, please join the site so you can reply in this thread. See this link for instructions on how to join Android Central.

 

[tube517]

Yep. I just saw the icon on my homescreen.

Just appeared out of nowhere. Must have been a recent google update

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

I knew I wasn't the only one. I'm the guy who asked the question BTW.
My phone is Huawei Mate 10 Lite if anyone's wondering.

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

Unfortunately, it's not there. I even turned on "show background processes" and still it remained hidden.

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

Just checked and there really was an update yesterday for Google but no mention of this Assistant thingy anywhere.

 

[djrakowski]

Maybe it was the result of a recent update to the Google app, and if so, it wouldn't appear separately as Google Assistant. If you're not going to use the Google app (and I don't use it, either), then you might want to disable it.

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

It does, look:

 

[djrakowski]

It does, look:

Well, would you look at that... I just enabled and updated my Google app on my Samsung Galaxy S9 to see if the same thing would happen, but it didn't... it was the same ol' Google app, with no additional Assistant coming along for the ride.

I'm stumped, honestly. I don't know why this happened to your phone but not mine. I suppose it could depend on which version of Android you're running (I'm on Oreo).

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

I'm on Nougat. Hopefully they fix this in the near future because it's driving me crazy. Also, why's the image compression so aggressive here?

 

[tube517]

I'm using my Tmobile V20 right now on Nougat.

I'll have to check my S8+ (Oreo) when I switch the sim.

I alternate using my 2 phones

 

[djrakowski]

I guess you could try disabling the Google app to see if the Assistant goes away, too. I don't know what else to suggest at this point.

Regarding image compression, I'm not sure, but it seems use different compression rates depending on whether you use the Android Central app (or Tapatalk) or browser to do the upload.

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

Guys, it's gone! As someone suggested, it was a bug from the new update. Thanks for taking the time to reply on my 1st thread here! Cheerio!

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

Maybe it was the result of a recent update to the Google app, and if so, it wouldn't appear separately as Google Assistant. If you're not going to use the Google app (and I don't use it, either), then you might want to disable it.

 

[Rinsun]

It was the Voice Search icon which changed to Assistant icon and label for a day on my Moto G5 Plus after the last update of the Google app. Today it's reverted back to the Voice Search icon and label in my app drawer. I did read somewhere that Google is going to change Voice Search to Assistant in the newer versions of the Google app. So maybe what we saw has something to do with it ?

 

[Javier P]

Same here. The Assistant icon showed up on the app drawer a couple of days ago after the latest Google app update. This morning it was gone.

 

[AstroBoy1963]

Guys, it's gone! As someone suggested, it was a bug from the new update. Thanks for taking the time to reply on my 1st thread here! Cheerio!

I just posted a question with the same topic and someone referred me here. This thread really helped me out. I too, just got it out of nowhere. I had never used google speech before, and the app just appeared. It wasn't even another app that had changed, just an app that appeared out of nowhere. It wasn't even in my settings, and I hadn't even updated my Google. I'm hoping it'll go away like it did for you.

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

Sneak peek.

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

ray:

 

[Svet the Saiyan]

Guys, I have bad news. It's back but this time it's called Voice Search...