SMARTPHONE owners have been warned about their devices listening to them without their knowledge.
It should come as no surprise that our phones are constantly gathering data on us.
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They collect our location data and more for apps that use it for marketing and advertising purposes.
But what you may not know is that our phones are also constantly listening to us.
One of the biggest reasons why our phones do this is to improve voice assistant features like Siri or Google Assistant.
For example, Siri may be listening for certain keywords so that it can quickly and accurately reply to queries.
Moreover, those same apps that track our locations could also be tuning in to your conversations if you allow them to.
Naturally, this can be concerning to smartphone users, so we have outlined how to limit these settings below.
HOW TO TURN OFF SIRI ON IPHONE
If you’re concerned about your iPhone constantly listening to you, here is how to turn off your microphone.
Head to Settings > Siri & Search > and toggle off the following items:
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- Listen for ‘Hey Siri’
- Press Side button for Siri
- Allow Siri When Locked
When a pop-up window appears reading Turn Off Siri, confirm it.
HOW TO TURN OFF MICS ON ANDROID
Similarly, to disable Hey Google or OK Google, follow the steps below.
First, open Settings on your device and then select Google.
From there, tap on Account Services > Search, Assistant & Voice > Voice.
Select Voice Match and then toggle off Hey Google.
MONITOR PERMISSIONS
In your device’s settings, you can also manage the permission for the apps on your device.
For iPhone, you can go to Settings > Privacy & Security > toggle app permissions on or off.
For Android, open Settings > Apps > select the app you want to change > Permissions.
To change a permission setting, tap it, then choose Allow or Don’t Allow.
