The magic phrase OK Google (to be pronounced oquei gugol ) can make the phone react and wait for a voice command to execute a task on the mobile through the Google assistant . For example, call someone, send a WhatsApp, create a reminder, point something, etc.
Normally this phrase can only be heard and detected by the phone when the screen is on. Although on some devices it can also be recognized with the screen off .
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Use OK Google with screen off, locked
The first thing you should do is set the device language to “Spanish (Spain)”. To do this you must go to the system settings, “Language and Input” option.
Then open the «Google» application and proceed as follows:
- At the bottom of the Google app, tap on “More.”
- Choose “Settings”.
- “Voice”.
- Voice Match.
- Activate the option “Access with Voice Match” (follow the instructions on the screen).
- Additionally, activate the option «Personal results on the lock screen.
If you’re having trouble, make sure the Google app is up to date. Open the Play Store, search for “Google” and tap the “Update” button if available.
Unfortunately, this feature appears to be inconsistent on some devices. That is the case of my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It only recognized the keyword “OK Google” a few times after activation and after nothing. I do not know if it is a question of this phone model or the Google app.
Phones that detect OK Google with screen off
The devices mentioned below can effectively detect the phrase OK Google even if the screen is off. This is because they have special hardware for this task, as well as software that takes advantage of this feature.
Motorola Moto X (via Moto Voice feature).
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Nexus 6
Nexus 9
Nexus 5X
Nexus 6P
Google Pixel
Google Pixel C
Surely in the “Voice” settings in the Google app of these devices you will see the option Always activated , which means that the device will detect the phrase OK Google regardless of the state of the screen.
Samsung devices
These devices come pre-installed with the S Voice assistant that responds to voice commands as well. However it is quite clumsy and limited compared to Google.
Previously, S Voice could be used as an intermediary to run Google voice search using the command “Galaxy opens voice search.” Unfortunately it seems that this no longer works.
On any Android (root)
Some devices can detect OK Google with screen off when connected to the charger.
Someone discovered that you can trick the device into thinking it is connected to the charger, so that it can recognize the OK Google command at any time.
This requires root permissions on the device. Once this is accomplished, the following command will have to be executed in a terminal application (like this one):
su dumpsys battery set ac 1
Whoever discovered this trick claims that it works with any device, whether or not it supports the OK Google function with screen off.
However, there are a couple of downsides. Battery statistics will no longer be collected as long as this is maintained. Also the battery consumption increases. According to tests, it consumes 12% of battery for eight hours of use, compared to 6% when this functionality is deactivated.
As indicated here, the process should be able to revert and return the phone to the original state with the following command:
su dumpsys battery reset
Xposed modules
If Xposed is installed on the device, there are a couple of alternative modules to get Google OK with screen off. That is the case of Assistant Enabler, for devices with Android 6.0. HiGoogle can be installed on Samsung devices, a module that allows you to activate voice recognition directly through S Voice.
About OpenMic
Long ago there was the OpenMic application that offered this feature on any Android. Unfortunately, Google demanded the cessation of the use of the functionality from its creator and was stalled.
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