Owner detection — Ginu guide

What this page covers

OutcomeRecord a voiceprint, see Ginu ignore another voice, and know the two ways back if it ignores you.

Before you beginBe at the computer itself, in a quiet room, on the microphone you use, sitting where you normally sit.

Follow these steps

Owner detection compares what is said at your computer’s microphone with a voiceprint you recorded. Speech that doesn’t match is ignored: it isn’t answered and it never reaches the model. The voiceprint stays on your computer.
Open Settings → Voice → Listening, find Owner detection and press Record a voiceprint for this mic. The recording is for the microphone in use, named at the top of the screen. Find a quiet room, make sure only you are speaking, and sit where you normally sit. If you switch between the built-in microphone and earphones, record on each. That is advice: Ginu doesn’t check it, only the recordings.
Ginu talks you through five short phrases shown on screen. Each recording is checked for length, background noise, clipping, Ginu’s own voice and a second speaker. A good one gets a green tick and the count moves on ("3 of 5"); a bad one shows why and asks again. The voiceprint is saved only when all five are good and agree with each other; if you cancel or it times out, nothing is saved.
Once a voiceprint is recorded, Owner detection is on and Settings lists it, one row per microphone. Use the switch to turn it off or on at any time; it takes effect on the next thing you say, with no restart. Turning it off keeps your voiceprints. Delete on a row is the only thing that removes one.
Ginu keeps a voiceprint for each microphone you record on, using the microphone chosen in Settings → Voice → Devices. On a microphone it has a voiceprint for, it checks only that one. On one it has none for, it checks every voiceprint you have and accepts a close match, so you are not locked out. To add a microphone, choose it, then record. Voiceprints never leave this computer.
To record again, choose that microphone and press Re-record the voiceprint for this mic. The old voiceprint stays in use until the new one is saved.

Example

After recording, ask someone else to say: Ginu, what time is it?

Nothing is answered and nothing is spoken. Say the same thing yourself and Ginu answers.

A recorded voice, a switch, and typing as the way back

The voiceprint comes from five phrases you read when asked, each checked before it counts. Nothing you say in ordinary use changes it afterwards; only recording again does, and the old one stays in use until the new one is saved.

The switch is separate from the voiceprint. Off means every voice is answered and the voiceprint stays on disk; only Delete removes it.

Typing is never judged. If Ginu stops recognising you — a cold, a noisy room — type to it, then re-record when you can. A new microphone gets its own voiceprint: choose it, then record. A notice appears on screen if it keeps refusing a voice; it is never spoken, so a child talking nearby does not get an answer from it.

Find your symptom

Ginu is ignoring me.

Cause: Owner detection is on and your voice doesn’t match the saved voiceprint closely enough: a changed microphone, a cold, or a recording made in a noisy room.

Fix: Open Settings → Voice → Listening → Owner detection and press **Re-record the voiceprint for this mic**, in a quiet room with only you speaking. Or turn Owner detection off; that keeps the voiceprint. You can always type to Ginu meanwhile.

Ginu ignores me after I changed microphone.

Cause: That microphone has no voiceprint of its own, and your voice sounds different on it.

Fix: Choose it in Settings → Voice → Devices, then record a voiceprint for that microphone.

Owner detection is on but every voice is answered.

Cause: No voiceprint is recorded — or the saved one is from an older version, or could not be read — so Ginu accepts every voice until you record one.

Fix: Press **Record a voiceprint for this mic** in the same section.

Notes

Typing always works. Owner detection only judges speech at your computer’s microphone, so if Ginu isn’t recognising you, type to it; typing also stops Ginu mid-sentence.
If Ginu keeps refusing a voice, a notice appears on screen — never spoken — with Re-record, Turn off and Dismiss. Dismiss hides it for the rest of the session.
On a microphone without its own voiceprint, a banner says No voiceprint for this mic yet with Record and Not now. Not now hides it for that microphone for the rest of the session; it is never spoken either.
It is a convenience, not a security lock. Very short phrases, such as the wake phrase on its own or "Ginu, stop", may not be judged.
Audio from a paired phone isn’t judged by Owner detection, and a voiceprint can only be recorded at the computer’s microphone.
A voiceprint recorded by an older version of Ginu is not used. Record a new one.
Your first voiceprint, from before Ginu kept one per microphone, is listed as unknown mic and is used on any microphone without its own. Settings asks once whether it was recorded on the microphone in use.
It can’t record in incognito mode, because nothing would be saved.

Check

Settings lists a voiceprint for the microphone in use, another voice is ignored, and you can turn Owner detection off and back on without losing the voiceprint.