Google Assistant on Android is designed to be as helpful and accessible as possible. To facilitate this, Google includes a feature called Personal Results on the lock screen. When enabled, this feature allows Google Assistant to access your calendar, read your emails, dictate your text messages, and pull up your personal contacts even while your smartphone remains securely locked.
While the ability to shout a command across the room and have your phone read your next appointment aloud is convenient, it completely bypasses the physical security of your device. If your phone is left on a desk at work or in a public space, anyone can trigger the Assistant and ask it to read your private messages or reveal your personal schedule. If you want to ensure that your private data remains entirely inaccessible until you authenticate via fingerprint, face unlock, or PIN, you must disable Personal Results on the lock screen.
Why Disable Personal Results on the Lock Screen?
There are serious privacy implications to leaving this feature enabled:
- Information Leakage: Anyone within speaking distance of your device can trigger the Assistant to read your emails, texts, and calendar events aloud.
- Unauthorized Actions: Depending on your settings, an unauthorized user might be able to send text messages or make phone calls to your contacts without unlocking the phone.
- Strict Privacy Control: Disabling the feature enforces the fundamental rule of smartphone security: no data is accessible without cryptographic authentication.
How to Turn Off ‘Personal Results’ on the Android Lock Screen
You can revoke Google Assistant’s permission to display or speak personal data while locked directly from the Google app settings.
- Open the Google app on your Android device.
- Tap on your Profile Picture (or initial) in the top-right corner of the screen.
- From the drop-down menu, select Settings.
- Tap on Google Assistant.
- Scroll down the list of Assistant settings and tap on Personal results.
- Under the “Lock screen” section, locate the toggle switch for Personal results on lock screen.
- Switch the toggle to the Off position.
Once this is disabled, Google Assistant will still respond to generic queries (like the weather or basic math) while the phone is locked. However, if you or anyone else asks it to access your calendar, messages, or contacts, the Assistant will explicitly demand that the device be unlocked first.