Google Now was a smart personal assistant service developed by Google, first released in 2012. It would proactively provide users with information and suggestions based on their location, search history, calendar events, and more. However, Google Now has since been replaced by Google Assistant.
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What Was Google Now?
Google Now aimed to provide users with relevant, timely information without needing to search for it. For example, Google Now could:
- Surface flight details, traffic alerts, and weather information based on your location
- Show restaurant reservations and hotel bookings from Gmail
- Display sports scores and news stories it thought you’d be interested in
- Offer to create calendar events based on information in your emails
- Provide translations, currency conversions, and more on demand
The service ran on Android devices and iOS, accessible via the Google Search app. It showed information proactively through “Google Now cards,” which would appear automatically throughout the day.
Why Disable Google Now?
There are a few reasons you may want to turn off Google Now completely:
- Privacy concerns: Google Now relied on access to your location, search history, Gmail account, and more to surface relevant information. If you are uncomfortable with Google accessing this data, disabling the service improved privacy.
- Too many notifications: The automatically appearing Google Now cards could be intrusive or annoying if they popped up too frequently. Turning the service off removed these notifications.
- Prefer alternative assistants: Many users now prefer using Google Assistant or other virtual assistants over Google Now. Disabling Google Now helped avoid confusion over which service does what.
How to Turn Off Google Now
Google Now has been replaced by Google Assistant. The Google Now brand and notification center no longer exist as of late 2016.
However, if for some reason you still have Google Now enabled, here is how to turn it off completely:
On Android
- Open the Google app
- Tap the hamburger menu icon (three horizontal lines)
- Tap Settings
- Tap Google Now
- Toggle the switch at the top from On to Off
This will disable both Google Now cards and notifications.
On iOS
- Open the Google search app
- Tap Settings
- Tap Google Now
- Toggle Show Cards to Off
Unfortunately iOS does not have an option to completely disable Google Now. Turning off cards is the best you can do.
And that’s it! Google Now should now be fully disabled and removed from your device. You may need to reboot your phone to completely stop any remaining services.
What Has Replaced Google Now?
In 2016, Google introduced its new Google Assistant service. This goes beyond Google Now to allow full conversational interactions powered by artificial intelligence.
Key capabilities of Google Assistant include:
- Answering questions by voice
- Controlling smart home devices by voice
- Managing tasks, lists, and calendars
- Playing music, podcasts and more on command
- Integrating with a wide range of third-party services
Google Assistant runs on Android and iOS devices just like Google Now did. Over time, Google Now’s features have been absorbed into Google Assistant.
So for a smarter personal assistant, check out Google Assistant! But if you still need to disable Google Now for privacy or other reasons, use the steps outlined above.
Summary
- Google Now proactively surfaced information through notifications. It has since been replaced by Google Assistant.
- You may want to turn off Google Now due to privacy concerns, too many notifications, or preferring alternative assistants.
- Disable Google Now by toggling it Off in the Google app’s settings on Android. On iOS, turn off Show Cards.
- Google Assistant offers full conversational interactions, replacing and improving upon Google Now’s capabilities.
