Wake my my phone using "OK Google."

[Joshua Greve]

There has got to be a way to wake up my Galaxy S7 via voice (OK Google). It is such an obvious feature but I cannot figure out how to make this happen.

any advice?

Thanks in advance!

(PS: I had already posted this, but in the 6.0 forum-- not realizing I have Nougat. Shows how knowledgeable I am, lol)

 

[Rukbat]

Wake up in what sense? From power off? Can't be done. The phone has to be running for the Google Assistant to run.

Turn the screen on? You'll need an app that turns the screen on just by running - then tell the Assistant to run the app.

Unlock the phone? There's a setting for that in Preferences in Assistant.

 

[UglyStuff]

I replied to the OP in the Marshmallow forum about this, but I'll elaborate: for the user to be able to wake the screen and/or unlock it using his/her voice or whispering into the phone microphone (as does the BlowToUnlock tweak on a jailbroken iPhone), there has to be a service running in the background always listening (in all senses of the word) in to the microphone, not just in terms of voice input, but also in terms of electric activity.

Android being open-source and all, it should be possible to create an app that does that, but it would put a lot of strain on battery life, and I suppose your phone would have to be rooted, because the microphone-related APIs in Android aren't accessible for that sort of thing without rooting the terminal.

 

[ffejjj]

Works in Nova launcher

 

[UglyStuff]

On a non-rooted phone, you can actually wake your screen and unlock it with Nova Launcher?

 

[ffejjj]

On a non-rooted phone, you can actually wake your screen and unlock it with Nova Launcher?

Yes sir. I'm not sure if other launchers are capable because I only use Nova nowadays.

 

[ffejjj]

And now I'm wondering if it recognizes my voice or not. Could be an unsecured back door allowing others to access my phone. hmm

 

[ffejjj]

Okay I've had several people try and wake my phone with "Okay Google" and it fails every time. Each time saying it can't recognize my voice.

Small sigh of relief...

 

[UglyStuff]

I'm pretty sure we're not talking about the same thing here: to unlock your screen using "OK Google" AFTER you've woken it up using, say, the Home button, is what "OK Google" is about.

Waking the screen up AND unlocking it using your voice, whether via "OK Google" or "Hey, punkin!" is another, I think.

The BlowToUnlock tweak in (jailbroken) iOS "listens" in to any audio input in the microphone, ALL THE TIME, which means that 99.99% of the time, it's working in the background doing nothing, using battery, because it's resource-intensive.

Think of it as some sort of Always-On Display, but for the mike on your phone.

As a side note: I too have tried to ***unlock*** my phone using "OK Google", and it works about one time out of five; I've noticed it works best if you've recorded a whispering voice, rather than your real, outspoken voice, because it seems very sensitive to voice pitch.

 

[ffejjj]

I'm pretty sure we're not talking about the same thing here: to unlock your screen using "OK Google" AFTER you've woken it up using, say, the Home button, is what "OK Google" is about.

Waking the screen up AND unlocking it using your voice, whether via "OK Google" or "Hey, punkin!" is another, I think.

The BlowToUnlock tweak in (jailbroken) iOS "listens" in to any audio input in the microphone, ALL THE TIME, which means that 99.99% of the time, it's working in the background doing nothing, using battery, because it's resource-intensive.

Think of it as some sort of Always-On Display, but for the mike on your phone.

As a side note: I too have tried to ***unlock*** my phone using "OK Google", and it works about one time out of five; I've noticed it works best if you've recorded a whispering voice, rather than your real, outspoken voice, because it seems very sensitive to voice pitch.

What I'm referring to is waking AND unlocking your phone from a black screen without touching any buttons.

 

[UglyStuff]

Wow... I used to have Nova on my phone, and I never noticed that. Is that a feature on the free version, or do you have to upgrade to a paid version ?

EDIT: is there a noticeable impact on battery life, with this feature enabled and without?

 

[ffejjj]

Wow... I used to have Nova on my phone, and I never noticed that. Is that a feature on the free version, or do you have to upgrade to a paid version ?

EDIT: is there a noticeable impact on battery life, with this feature enabled and without?

I've had the paid version from the start so I'm not sure about the free version. I don't see any adverse effects on my battery while using OK Google "having it on" but Nova has always been very resource friendly.

 

[Joshua Greve]

I use Nova Launcher. so, you can say OK Google to your locked phone and it will work?

 

[Joshua Greve]

interesting. I will try this.

 

[Joshua Greve]

To clarify: I am looking to be able to wake my S7 from (what I understand to be called something like) "Asleep mode" with the black screen showing the time (NOT simply the "lock" screen) by saying, "Okay, Google."

Now, that screen is on even while audio is playing (such as my Podcast Republic or Audible), but Ok Google never responds during this time.

This is kind of an essential feature of these kinds of assistants... but that doesn't seem to exist with OK Google and I find that very difficult to.underatand. drains battery? All kids of features do; that's why they're optional. Also, in my research, my understanding is that Bixby *does* do this.

Anyway, I am not trying to argue with anyone. I really appreciate your insights. I am just not sure I made myself clear and, yes, as it seems this feature is not available (in any stable way, anyway), I am getting frustrated with such myopy on the part of Google. :/

PS: this link might take you to a pic of what state I'm referring to. https://www.google.com/search?q=gal...hXF4IMKHUqkANkQ_AUIEigE#imgrc=GpsTTUjOdGI0eM:

 

[ffejjj]

I use Nova Launcher. so, you can say OK Google to your locked phone and it will work?

Yes

 

[ffejjj]

https://youtu.be/4OPj0v2Nxhs

 

[ffejjj]

I'm reading through these forums and it looks like it's actually a Samsung issue. It's crazy if they blocked the function.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/s...k-my-s7-screen-off-not-connected-charger.html

 

[Joshua Greve]

thanks ffejjj. that helps.

 

[Joshua Greve]

by the way, is that your phone in the link? Also, what phone do you have? If that's yours in the link, I'm not expert enough to recognize phones on the spot. Thanks again!