Android Jelly Bean brought Google Now with swipe up launch, which can get in the way, and often launch Google Now when you accidentally make that swiping motion. There are other reasons, however, for users wanting to disable Google Now. This somewhat blatant personal assistant basically gathers your personal information, scanning your emails, pulling your location and activity in order to display relevant ads to you. Taking into account Google’s involvement with the NSA, some users might feel uncomfortable with Google Now always in the way.
To disable Google Now, launch it, scroll down to the three dots, tap them and open the Settings. You can turn it off from there. However, the trigger still remains there and every time you swipe up you launch the nuisance.
Swipeup can help you disable that swipe up trigger that launches Google Now every now and then, and the reason you need to use a third-party app is Google omitted adding a built-in option to disable it.
Swipeup not only eliminates Google Now from that area, but lets you assign access to another app if you wish.
The app is pretty straightforward – once downloaded, it opens its settings where you can either do nothing or assign an app to the swipe up gesture. If you do nothing, you simply eliminate Google Now from that trigger area, but the circle remains there. If you assign the area a different app, well, at least you’d be launching something you like with that gesture and enjoy fast access to your favorite app.
Swipeup Utility works on Android 4.1+ devices, and you don’t need to root to use it, so it’s a bliss. It’s fast, simple and delivers the promised function.
Note: the next time you swipe, you will see a dialog window offering you choose to ‘complete action using’-> Swipeup utility -> Always/ Just Once.
The app does not require ‘creepy,’ as stated by the developer, app permissions, and besides letting you disable the swiping up gesture, it lets you assign the trigger:
- Any app, or even multiple apps, so that you have a choice
- Special actions – see recent apps, voice search, home press button, or connect to Tasker and think of a different recipe
- Shortcuts – to apps that support standard shortcuts. This feature is still in beta, but the potential is really huge.
The app is free and neat, so why not check it out?
