Amazon Echo speakers are designed to respond to human voices, but will just any old voice do? If your Echo speaker indeed responds to all voices, is there a way to ensure if will only listen to you?
Does Alexa Only Respond to Its Owner?
When you first set up your Alexa, it isn’t going to respond to your voice only. When the Alexa app asks you to provide a sample of your voice, you’d think that meant it was ensuring only your voice (and the voice of other added users) will be recognized. But this isn’t the case. While Alexa is technically designed to only respond to voices sampled through the app, that doesn’t happen.
The next time you have someone around whose voice hasn’t been sampled in the Alexa app, ask them to make a voice request. Chances are Alexa will comply like it would if it was you making a request.
This is convenient forgatherings and parties using your Alexa, as anyone can switch songs, ask a question, or adjust the volume. But responding to any voice also brings security concerns. If within listening range of your Alexa speaker, someone may be able to ring one or more of your phone contacts, send texts, and access other apps that you’ve linked to Alexa.
To prevent this from happening, it might be ideal for your Alexa to only respond to just you, or just trusted users. But is this possible?
It’s not possible to ensure that Alexa will only ever respond to your voice. However, there are some things you can attempt to ensure your smart assistant responds to you and trusted users as much as possible.
How to Get Alexa to Respond to You and Trusted Users
Within the Alexa app for iOS or Android, there is a feature that allows you to create your own personal voice profile. You should be asked to do this upon app setup, but if this step didn’t show up or you chose to skip it, you can still create a voice profile.
To do this, head to your Alexa app foriOSorAndroid, and then selectMore > Settings > Your Profile & Family > Voice ID. Here, you’ll be able to see if you’ve already added any recognized voices. You can add your voice as the main user by clicking onVoice IDand then adding your voice sample. You can also delete your pre-existing voice ID and add a new one if you’d like.
In Voice ID settings, you’re able to enable or disable thePersonalize Skillsfeature, which allows third-party Alexa skills to distinguish whether it is you or someone else making a voice command. Activate this to ensure your skills also respond to you and trusted users.
If there is a voice added to your Alexa profile that isn’t you, you’ll be able to see the name of the profile next to theYour Familytab. You can also add more users by tapping on theAdd Someoneoption in the same row. This will allow you to add another voice profile, perhaps of a relative, friend, or coworker.
Next up, you’ll need to head back into your device settings, and scroll down until you seeWake Word. This feature allows you to set a specific trigger word to activate Alexa. You can choose from Alexa, Amazon, Computer, Echo, and Ziggy. Set your wake word to one of the lesser-known trigger words to make it harder for unauthorized individuals to activate Alexa.
you may also add a profile PIN to your Alexa app. This will cause Alexa to request a four-digit PIN for sensitive actions, such asbuying products from Amazon via voice commands, preventing unauthorized individuals from accessing private information or spending money without your permission.
To set up a PIN, head toMore > Settings > Your Profile & Family > PIN.To create an Alexa PIN, you’ll need to confirm your phone number by entering a confirmation code from a text Amazon sends you. You can reset the PIN whenever you’d like, but this will require another verification code that Amazon will send via text.
Make Sure Alexa Puts You First
While your Alexa speaker can respond to anyone, it’s wise to put some protective measures in place to ensure it knows the main and additional users. Creating voice profiles, setting a different trigger word, and adding a PIN can all help your Alexa to personalize its functions to you and keep your device safe.
