How to disable Smart Compose on your Google Pixel keyboard

Over the past few years, Google has made a regular habit of updating its first-party Pixel phones with semi-regular "feature drops." These feature drops have included minor system updates along with major, life-saving features such as the ability to tell if you've been in a car crash and notify emergency contacts. Somewhere in the middle is Google's Smart Compose feature, which it has offered in certain apps like Gmail for quite some time now. In March 2021, it began rolling out to other services such as messaging apps. If you get annoyed and want to disable the Smart Compose feature on your Google Pixel phone, don't worry, you have recourse.

Products used in this guide

• The most affordable Pixel: Google Pixel 4a

How to disable Smart Compose on your Google Pixel keyboard

1. Open any app that you can type into, like Google Messages.
2. Tap on the text entry field to pull up the keyboard.
3. Tap on the Settings (gear) icon.
4. This should take you to your Pixel's Gboard settings. Tap on Text correction.Source: Android Central

1. Tap to toggle off Smart Compose.Source: Android Central

That's all there is to it! If you don't want to see Google's smart AI-powered text suggestions, you don't have to. Of course, if you ever want them back, all you have to do is repeat the steps above and toggle Smart Compose back on. Google didn't specify which apps will benefit from the Smart Compose feature, though we've begun noticing it in messaging apps, as well as some of Google's own apps like Keep and Gmail.

As of the March 2021 Pixel feature drop, Smart Compose is only available in the U.S. and only in English, though we'd expect it to roll out to more countries and in more languages in the near future.

Our top equipment picks

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