How To Change OK Google to Something Else

Microsoft has Cortana, Amazon has Alexa, Apple has Siri, and Google has, well, Google.

Rather than come up with a human name for its assistant, Google went with the no-nonsense name of “Google Assistant” for its AI assistant. You address Google Assistant by saying “Hey Google” rather than the more personable “Alexa” or “Hey Siri” approach.

Others might say that the product’s name lacks imagination, but there’s certainly no lack of functionality in the Google Assistant service itself. The Google Assistant is a pure software tool that offers a lot of features, such as the ability to launch programs on your computer or smartphone, start TV shows or music playlists, even dim the lights in your house, or turn various appliances on and off.

Understanding the Google Assistant

You can use your voice to communicate with friends and family, give you travel directions, plan your next trip, set alarms, and reminders, translate languages, and so much more. The possibilities and functionalities are endless!

Despite the many things that Google Assistant can do, it cannot make major changes in its voice-activation command. Google will let you set it to “OK Google” or, on some later devices, “Hey Google.”

For whatever reason – probably a branding decision made by marketing – the company wants you to say its name before the Assistant will do anything for you. Having people repeat your company name many times per day is clear branding but not necessarily all that much fun for the Google Assistant users.

Fortunately, the very nature of Google’s software architecture is that it is hackable and modifiable. So what Google hasn’t added as features, third parties eagerly took the opportunity to add functionality to Google Assistant.

By using additional software, you can change your Google Assistant voice activation phrase to be anything you want. In this article, we will show you the various methods of doing this and walk you through each of them.

There are two main methods for changing the “wake up word” or the name of Google Assistant.

The first method involves using Mic+, an application that works pretty well but is no longer being developed as of this writing.

The second method we discuss involves changing your Google Assistant’s name using the Autovoice app. This second approach (described further in this article) is probably better than the first approach, but we’ll provide you with instructions on how to use both.

Can You give Google Assistant a Name?

While the company doesn’t natively support the option, there are some tried and true workarounds to change ‘Ok Google.’

We’ll start by showing you how to change the “wake word” for Google Assistant with Mic+, and then we’ll show you how to do the same thing with Autovoice (probably the better approach). Let’s get started!

How can I rename my Google assistant Using the Open Mic+ App?

Open Mic+ is an app that supplements the Google Assistant, adding a variety of features such as offline voice recognition and integration with Tasker, an extremely powerful Android automation system.

For our purposes today, however, we’re most interested in the feature of Open Mic+ that lets you replace the voice command used to activate the Google Assistant.

Mic+ Setup

For Open Mic+ to work, you have to disable the hot word detection in Google Now. This is easy to do, although Google has done its best to hide the required functionality deep inside its forbidding and quasi-random user interface hierarchy.

First, you will need to turn off your google assistant. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Activate your Google Assistant by saying “OK Google” or long-pressing the Home button.
   
2. Press the Compass icon in the lower right-hand part of the app to access the explore menu.
   
3. Tap your profile button on the top right part of the app, some users may need to select Settings depending on your model.
   
4. Scroll down to the Assistant Devices section at the bottom and tap on your smartphone or other devices you wish to configure.
   
5. Toggle the “Access with Voice Match” setting to off.
   

Launch Mic+

Step 1

Next, launch the Open Mic+ app. Open Mic+ is no longer available on the Google Play store, but Open Mic+ for Google Now is still available through Amazon.

Make sure you have installed the Amazon Store App before you can download the Open Mic+ app.

Step 2

Open the Open Mic+ app, and you’ll see the start screen. Tap on the preferences sliders to open the settings dialog.

Once into the preferences screen, tap on “Hot Phrase,” and then type in the phrase you want to use going forward.

You might want to resist the temptation to get too cute with this; too long a phrase might be amusing at first but will get old fast. Keep it short and sweet, something you can live with even when you’re stressed and in a hurry.

For our demonstration, we’ll go with Captain Picard and change the activation phrase to “Computer.” 

When you’re done typing the new phrase, just tap on the “OK” button. Hit the return button in the upper left corner to exit preferences.

Finishing Up

You should now see a big green button labeled “Start.” Tap that and leave it running, and you can say your chosen hot word instead of “OK Google,” and your Google Assistant will be right there, ready to take your voice command.

How do I Change Google Assistant’s Wake Word using Tasker and AutoVoice?

Open Mic+ works most of the time. Unfortunately, the app is not in active development at this time, and it’s possible that it won’t install or won’t run properly on your phone.

A more reliable method of changing your Assistant hot word is to download and install the very popular Tasker app. Tasker isn’t free; it’s $2.99, but honestly, it’s the best $3.49 you will ever spend if you use your phone a lot.

Tasker handles all kinds of tasks. It automates everything from settings to photos. It allows you to customize over 350 actions, and when loaded with the right plugins, it can let you change your Google Assistant hot word.

Once you’ve downloaded Tasker, you will also need to install the AutoVoice app from the same developer. This download is free, but AutoVoice is ad-supported.

Step 1: AutoVoice

First, you need to go to your “Settings” and then choose “Accessibility.” In the list of options, find “AutoVoice Google Now Integration” and “Tasker” and toggle the switches next to those entries to enable the functionality.

Step 2: AutoVoice

You need to link your AutoVoice app to your Google account. Fortunately, Google Assistant can do this for you.

1. Activate the Google Assistant.
2. Say “Talk to AutoVoice.”
3. The Assistant will tell you that your account is not linked, and will ask for permission to link the accounts. Tap “Yes.”
4. If you have more than one Google account, a selection dialog will come up asking you which account to link; choose the account you use on this phone.
5. The Google Assistant will complete linking AutoVoice to your account.

Step 3: AutoVoice

Open the Tasker app, tap on the plus sign, and then add “Event.” From the list of options, select “Plugin” and then choose “AutoVoice” and “Recognized.” Click the edit button next to “Configuration” and then tap “The Hard Way.”

Tap “Speak Filter.” You’ll be prompted to speak your new command phrase. Tasker may ask you to clarify what you said by presenting a list of its best guesses; select the one that you actually said.

Press the back button on your phone. At the top of your screen, you will see the text “AutoVoice Recognized,” a circle inscribing an ‘i,’ a checkmark, and an ‘X.’ Tap the checkmark.

Now hit the back arrow in the upper left-hand side of the screen, next to the “Event Edit” text.

A pop-up will appear containing “New Task +.”  Tap the “New Task +” line in the pop-up.

A dialog will come up allowing you to name the task; you can skip this if you wish.

You really only need to name tasks if there are a large number of tasks in a workflow, and you might get them mixed up. Type in a name (or not) and tap the checkmark to the right of the name field.

Now the Task Edit screen will appear. This is where you assign a command to execute when the command phrase is heard by Tasker. 

Tap the + button in the circle on the right-hand side of the screen, and a menu of all the possible actions will appear. 

Tap the box labeled “Input,” then the box labeled “Voice Command.” Hit the back button to the left of the “Action Edit” label. You should now see the Task Edit screen with your new task displayed.

Tap the “Play” button to run your task, and you should now have a voice command that opens the Google Assistant.

Frequently Asked Questions

Following these steps may seem quite complicated for most users. If you still have questions about the Google Assistant’s wake commands, keep reading.

Will Google ever include the option to change the wake command?

Unfortunately, as of October 2021, there is no official word from the company that this native feature is in the works. However, there is power in numbers. You can provide feedback to Google requesting such a feature at this link.

Can I turn Ok Google off?

Yes. If you aren’t having a good time with the Google Assistant, or you don’t want it responding to you, open the Google Assistant app and tap on Settings. Then, tap on Voice>Ok Google Detection. Here, you can toggle the slider off, and Google will no longer respond to your wake word.