Is Alexa Spying Check Your Amazon Echo Privacy Settings

How to Stop Alexa Listening All the Time

If this creeps you out more than you would like, it is good to know that you can mute the microphones on any Echo device whenever you feel like it. This obviously reduces some of the utility of having a hands-free smart speaker, but it can give you precious peace of mind. All you need to do is tap the mute button on top of your Echo speaker. You will know your Echo is muted when you see a solid red ring light up around your device. When muted, your Echo will not respond to voice commands. To turn the microphones back on, simply press the same button to unmute.

How to Review Your Alexa Voice History

You can see all the requests that have been made to your Echo speaker by going to alexa.amazon.com and scrolling through the Home tab, or by opening the Alexa app. Here’s how that works on your smartphone. Requests made to Alexa are viewable as a transcript as well as an audio recording. To hear an audio recording of something in your history, tap the arrow next to the request you would like to hear, and then press the play button to hear a recording of what Alexa heard.

How to Delete Your Alexa Voice Recordings

Jonathan Wylie If this sounds like a chore that you don’t want to repeat on a regular basis, you’ll be glad to know that you can actually schedule Alexa to delete your recordings automatically. Here’s how. Jonathan Wylie

Review Echo Skills Permissions

Another privacy option that is worth reviewing on a regular basis is the permissions that have been granted to the various skills (apps) you have added to your Echo. Skills have access to personal information that could include your home address, email address, mobile phone number, and more. Here’s how to check those permissions: Jonathan Wylie From here you can scroll through the skills that have been added to your Echo and disable anything that looks suspicious.