How to Turn “Hey Cortana” On or Off on Windows 10
Cortana is the digital assistant for Windows Phone and now in Windows 10 and when “Hey Cortana” is on, it’s always listening which can make it come on unintentionally.
Microsoft’s digital assistant, Cortana, first appeared on Windows Phone 8.1 and has migrated to Windows 10. The “Hey Cortana” feature allows you to activate the digital assistant by voice and use it. Here’s how to enable this feature or turn it off if you when don’t need it.
I like to use the “Hey Cortana” feature because it’s always listening, and makes it easy to launch programs, settings, create appointments and reminders…etc. However, if I’m using my laptop while listening to a podcast, music, or watching Netflix, sometimes Cortana can turn on and start launching things – which can be annoying.
Update: Microsoft has decoupled Cortana from Windows Search and a lot of its settings have changed over time. This article has been updated to reflect those changes.
Turn Windows 10 “Hey Cortana” On or Off
Since the updates, you can get Cortana to respond by saying either: “Hey, Cortana,” or simply just “Cortana.” To get started, make sure you’re signed into the Cortana app.
To turn it on, launch the Cortana app from your taskbar. Then click the menu button (three dots) on the left-hand side and click Settings.
Next, click on Voice Activation from the menu.
Now click on the Voice Activation Permissions link.
If this is the first time using Cortana to open Settings, you will need to click Yes to verify.
Now in Voice Activation Settings, you want to make sure that the “Allow apps to use voice activation” switch is enabled.
Then scroll down to the “Choose which apps can use voice activation” section and turn on the switch to let Cortana respond to the keyword. Here you can also flip the switch for Cortana to respond when your PC is locked. But that’s optional.
To turn Cortana’s responding to the keyword off, just go back into Settings and flip off the switches you enabled. And that’s it.
Digital Assistants
All digital assistants seem to have the problem of activating due to background noise. From Google Now to Siri and even Alexa on Amazon Echo is guilty. So if you have one of those digital assistants on your phone or other devices, you’ll want to toggle the “always listening” feature off on those.
We haven’t even touched the surface of what Cortana can do, but if you are concerned about privacy, we did show you how to erase your search content from Cortana’s database. We will have a complete guide on setting up and using it coming soon.
But, if you’re just getting started with Cortana in Windows 10, this should take care of at least one thing that might annoy you at first.
What’s your take on Cortana, and more specifically, the “Hey Cortana” feature? Leave a comment below and let us know.
12 Comments
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
John
I also noticed that when active moving my pointer via the touch pad on my Lenovo T500 across certain open menus or on a web page will “awaken” Cortana. Interestingly when using a USB trackball doesn’t. Prompting me to think DRIVER.
Burt Heacock
Cortana seems to really work well. Strangely, it can’t seem to hear me when I try to train it to my voice. However, is seems to hear me just fine when I actually use it. I’ve used Siri on my iPhone since it became available and Cortana’s voice recognition seems much better. So far, it hardly every makes a mistake.
John
I might also add to my above post, that turning the “Hey Cortana” option on, on the desktop seems to have no effect. I still have to click the mic button to get her attention.
Paula
I keep trying to turn Cortana on to try it out, but must not be available thru the Windows 10 upgrade that I received from Microsoft. I do not have the “Notebook” icon available, nor the microphone available on lower left “Search” bar….. nor can I turn on the top item under Cortana’s settings which asks about Cortana giving suggestions, ideas, etc. Just a little frustrated….
Kate Eldridge
I made the mistake one time of telling Cortana to “turn off Cortana.” Then couldn’t figure out why it would not respond to me anymore. Finally figured it out; I also might have removed it from the startup programs one day when I was updating. HTH
Pete
How do I stop Cortana from popping up all the time? I still want her in the task bar in case I want to use her, but her constant popping up while I’m doing other things is annoying
Anthony Spinelli
How do I turn Cortana off. She comes up at the most inopportune time and I’ve had HP techs trying to remove her from my PC but it never worked. She still pops up although I really want her off my PC
Bob Slipper
I have same problem as John on 12th August. Even though I have “Hey, Cortana” turned on I still have to click the mike to get her to respond – makes no difference whether I use the magic greeting or not. Rather defeats the object in my view!
Kevin
I had to turn off the Hey Cortana feature because when I watch streamed TV, Cortana picks up words and searches the internet bringing up a browser. It also happens in games while I use Ventrilo which can be very annoying while playing a game.
Anthony Spinelli
I’d like to have Cortana off of m system. She pops up at the most inopportune time and although I’ve had HP techs trying to remove her, she still appears unwanted. Please send specific examples on “How to remove Cortana” once and for all. Thanks… Anthony S
Esther
Constant popping up when unwanted is annoying. I really want her off my Notebook NOW!
Kai Carver
Thanks, this was helpful. I turned off “Let Cortana respond to ‘Cortana’ keyword”. I’m hoping this will stop Cortana from popping up in extremely annoying ways which I’m relieved to know others are annoyed by.