Following an announcement in October, Google began rolling out Guest mode on Assistant-powered smart speakers and smart displays. This feature ensures that your Assistant interactions are not saved to your Google account. Also, Google Assistant does not show personalized search results when in Guest mode.
Use Guest Mode on Google Assistant Smart Speakers
Today we will discuss how you can enable and use Guest mode on Google Assistant smart speakers and displays. This feature is available on Google’s smart speakers and displays such as Nest Audio and Nest Hub Max, as well as third-party devices powered by Assistant. Supported Assistant is limited to English on devices, with more language support planned to arrive in the coming months.
Enable Guest Mode on Your Smart Speaker
You can do Activate Google Assistant’s guest mode with the voice command “Ok Google, turn on Guest mode”. When enabled, you will hear a special ringtone indicating that Assistant has enabled the feature. It’s worth noting that the guest mode will stay on until you turn it off again. The command to disable guest mode is “Ok Google, turn off Guest Mode”. At any point, you can “Ok Google, is Guest mode on?” Check the status of guest mode with command.
What Happens When Guest Mode Is On?
When you choose to enable guest mode, Google doesn’t record your voice recordings and your Assistant interactions, such as the voice commands you give. This happens even if you choose to save your Assistant interactions to your Google account. Another important advantage of the guest mode is, will not display personal results, say your calendar events, for example. It is a nifty plugin for those who use Google Calendar to manage events.
On the other hand, other Google services such as Maps or YouTube may still use your activity if you have activity history enabled on these services. The same is true when you use Assistant with third-party apps. As a result, the videos your guests watch are added to your YouTube watch history.
If you don’t want this to happen, you can disable web and app activity, location history, and YouTube history at: Google’s My Activity page. While you’re at it, we also recommend that you set auto-delete for web and location history and take a look at any Google Assistant settings you need to change.
Features Available in Guest Mode
- Media controls, smart home controls, localized search results
- Actions in routines that have no personal consequences
- Announcement features like Broadcast and Family Bell
- Calls to household contacts
- Photos from photo frame on smart screens
Try Guest Mode on Smart Speakers for Better Privacy
Guest mode is a privacy-friendly addition to smart speakers and smart displays with Google Assistant. If you have a smart home device with an assistant, you should consider giving it a try. If you found this helpful, head over to our compilation of awesome Google Assistant cheats to use the voice assistant to the fullest.
