Is my TV listening? What a TV microphone does

Last checked: 14 Oct 2026

A TV can only hear the room if it has its own far-field microphone. Many TVs don't: the microphone is in the remote, and it only works while you hold the voice button. Where a TV does have one, the makers say it listens on the device for a wake word, and you can turn hands-free listening off in settings or, on some models, with a switch.

Each model page on this site says whether that model has a TV microphone, and only when it's confirmed for that model. Findings about one brand aren't applied to another.

Does my TV have a microphone?

Check the spec sheet. LG lists "Hands-free Voice Control" and "Far Field Voice Recognition" (for example the 2026 C6); Samsung lists "Far-Field Voice Interaction" (for example the 2025 S95F). Sky Glass has microphones in the TV, and Sky says hands-free voice control is switched on automatically.

A remote with a microphone button is near-field: you hold the button and speak into it. A far-field microphone, built into the TV, is designed to pick up speech from across the room without you touching anything. That's the hardware the rest of this page is about.

How wake-word listening works

The standard design is on-device wake-word detection. A small model on the TV listens only for a trigger phrase ("Hi LG", "Alexa", "Hey Google"), and the TV only starts sending audio for speech recognition after it hears it. LG's 12 September 2026 statement describes its TVs this way:

Voice recognition is off by default, and only works once you accept the Voice Information Agreement.
Wake-word detection happens on the TV. LG says audio without a recognised wake word "is not stored, converted to text, or transmitted".
A session ends after about 10 seconds with no speech, and lasts about 18 seconds at most.
Voice data isn't stored for later upload while the TV is offline.
LG's US privacy policy says ACR, the feature that recognises what's on screen, doesn't take anything from the microphone; it analyses the sound going to the TV's speakers.

What LG's Voice Information Agreement says

LG publishes the agreement on its US and UK legal-documents pages. LG names Nuance Communications as the service partner that "converts voice commands into text". The US version says LG keeps voice information for six months before deleting or anonymising it; the UK version doesn't give a period. Both acknowledge false triggers: hands-free listening "might misinterpret a word or sound as the wake signal", and when that happens the TV "may not notify you of such collection, but will promptly delete the voice information from the server".

LG lists every agreement and what declining it turns off on our LG User Agreements page.

Turning hands-free listening off

LG (webOS 24, 25 and 26)

Hands-free Voice Control, webOS 24 (UK) and 25: All Settings → General → AI Service → Voice Recognition Settings → Use Hands-free Voice Control

webOS 26: All Settings → General → AI Service → LG AI Settings → AI Voice Settings → Use Hands-free Voice Control

Listening while the TV is off: All Settings → General → Always Ready

LG's manuals say the microphone switch on the TV must be on for hands-free use, and some models don't support Hands-free Voice Control. LG says supported models have a hardware microphone switch; with it off, hands-free listening stops, and the remote's microphone only works when you press its button. LG doesn't say where the switch is on each model. To delete stored voice data: Support → Privacy & Terms → Delete My Personal Information → Delete Voice Information

The webOS 24 US guide has no Hands-free Voice Control section, and we haven't checked webOS 22 or 23.

Samsung

2025 and 2026 (UK/EU manuals): Settings → All Settings → Advanced Features → Voice → Bixby Settings → Voice Wake-up

Samsung's 2026 manual also describes a microphone switch on the bottom of the TV: with it off, "all voice recognition features and some sound features involving the microphone do not work". The switch's position and appearance vary by model. In the 2024 US manual, Bixby Settings is under General & Privacy → Voice instead.

Sky Glass

Home → Settings → Privacy → Voice mics

Sky says you can also use the top button on the right-hand side of the TV.

What a 2026 investigation reported

A 2026 Gamers Nexus / Level1Techs investigation reported audio captured and stored on an LG TV while the screen was off and disconnected from the internet, then uploaded once it reconnected. That isn't consistent with listening only for a wake word. The finding came from a TV the researchers had modified to get deeper access, which is a different claim from "this is what a stock TV does". LG's statement above says voice data isn't stored for later upload while offline.

The same investigation reported, in Decrypt's coverage, that researchers muted a TV's main microphone in settings and still recovered a recording from a second microphone the setting didn't cover. No outlet has tied this to a specific model number, so treat it as a reported finding on a modified unit. LG's statement says hands-free listening stops when the hardware switch is off on supported models.

If you'd rather not have a TV microphone

Models marked "No TV mic" on this site don't have one, so reports about TV microphones can't apply to them. Neither do non-smart TVs. For smart speakers, see Echo Show and Alexa settings.

Sources

This page describes your options and how organisations say they handle requests. It isn't legal advice. See About & sourcing, or report a correction.