By Gregory Zuckerman
Publication Date: 2026-01-05 11:05:00
Samsung’s growing partnership with Perplexity seems to be taking a turn toward always-on voice capabilities, with fresh evidence suggesting the existence of a “Hey Plex” hotword that would call up the AI assistant on Galaxy devices — even when the screen is dark.
The app code that was reviewed in the recent Perplexity build seems to indicate Samsung-level integration, which means not just any old Android microphone permission but more of a system-wide implementation.
What the Perplexity APK Reveals About Samsung Hotword
In Perplexity’s v2.69.3 app, we notice mentions of a custom WakeWordDetectionService and some Samsung-specific hooks. The app declares Samsung services and permissions: samsung.hotword.service and samsung.hotword.service.permission.ACCESS_HOTWORD_SERVICE, and it’s handshaking with com.samsung.android.hotword.sdk.IHotwordSdk — a hint that detection might be through Samsung’s specific hotword framework, not a generic, battery-dragging audio loop.
Setup strings also show a complete enrollment flow as found in current voice assistants. Users are prompted to agree to register a voiceprint (assistant speaker verification voiceprint agreement), allow microphone access for detection, unplug external mics such as Bluetooth headsets during training, and optionally remove or re-record the wake phrase later. These details are consistent with a low-latency, device-optimized hotword pipeline — not just an in-app trigger.
The “Hey…
