Unable to disable Voice "OK Google" detection on latest Google app update (battery drain too)?

[PGrey]

Unable to disable Voice "OK Google" detection on latest Google app update (battery drain too)?

Is anyone else seeing this?
Not only am I unable to disable Voice Detection, i.e. "Ok Google", but it's my primary battery drain.
I was seeing this previously, and had replied in the similar battery thread, but this is after a full reset now.
While it's draining less battery than before (just the Google app alone, about 10-15% daily, instead of 30-40 before reset), this all started when the latest app update came down, about 3-4 days back now.

Additionally, I've triggered it twice, by accident, which can tend to be embarrassing, so I'm not taking my phone into any "quiet settings" now.

My "Ok Google" Voice Detection is completely disabled, including the "while driving" mode too now, but I can still activate it, easily.

I can probably completely disable the assistant, but I use it, so that's not a good solution. I also tried rollback, previously, which hosed my phone pretty bad, hence the reset.

Any ideas? Anyone else seeing this?

 

[Robbit73]

Re: Unable to disable Voice "OK Google" detection on latest Google app update (battery drain too)?

This problem has been going on for a year. There are many posts on many sites about it. It started October 2016. Google purposely made the search widget ignore user settings for OK Google voice detection. I'm astounded they've been allowed to get away with this for so long. This is tantamount to illegal wire tapping. People have become so complacent about their privacy they permit criminals like Google to get away with anything. And if you complain, you're labeled a crackpot and told if you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't care. That's not the point and it's an ignorant opinion.

In any case, before I preach too much, you don't have many options, unfortunately. You'll have to compromise. I chose to disable the Google app altogether and the only thing I lost that I used, rarely, was the voice control feature for the keyboard and apps. A small price to pay. On a positive note, after disabling the Google app, my battery life went from around 12 - 15 hours to 24 - 30 hours. It literally doubled. Just the other day, I got 1 day and 12 hours! I use my phone quite a bit too....

If you use the Google app, Google Now, etc., and you're running Marshmallow or later, you can disable the microphone permission for the app. That way, it can't be activated when "OK Google" is spoken. If You're running Lollipop or earlier, you can simply remove the search widget. This is assuming Google hasn't made the rest of the app ignore the settings, as well as the widget, since I last checked. In any case, youll be giving something up, but it's something minor. Another option would be to uninstall updates and revert to the stock version of the Google app. And no, you shouldn't have to and it's unacceptable for Google to do this and get away with it. The FCC really needs to clamp down on Google's shady practices.