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Millions of people use their Amazon Echos every day. These smart home gadgets are undoubtedly useful, but they need to listen out in case you make a voice command. So, how much does your Echo listen to, and is your privacy at risk?
Is Alexa Always Listening?
you may only get Alexa, your Echo’s built-in virtual assistant, to respond to voice commands by using a wake word. Most people use the default wake word, “Alexa”, but there area number of other wake wordsto choose from in the Alexa app, including…
When you say your chosen wake word aloud, yourEcho’s ring light turns blueto indicate that Alexa is actively listening. If you don’t say anything after this, the blue light will turn off, and you’ll have to say the wake word again to regain Alexa’s attention.
You can use only one wake word at a time, which can be changed by navigating to your device’s settings in the Alexa app and selectingWake Word.
This is where the question of Alexa’s listening habits comes in. Alexa is designed to be in a passive listening mode, constantly processing audio to detect the wake word. Once the wake word is detected, Alexa actively listens to the voice command.
When Does Alexa Start Listening?
According toAmazon’s Echo privacy settings, Alexa keeps a recording of your voice audio whenever you’re speaking directly to her. During the device setup, Alexa may prompt you to create a voice profile. This involves recording your voice to recognize who you are when you make a request. On theofficial Amazon website, it is stated that “Only after your Echo device detects the wake word is Alexa listening to your requests.”
On aseparate Amazon page, it is stated that “Echo devices are designed by default to detect only the sound waves of your chosen wake word, and everything else is ignored”. It is also written on the same page that “Alexa is a part of your life only when you ask Alexa to be,” and “Alexa does not listen to your personal conversations.”
If we were to take Amazon’s word on this, we could conclude that Alexa only listens to you after you say the specific wake word. But is this entirely true?
A number of stories have arisen in the past about Alexa possibly listening when she shouldn’t be. For instance, in 2018, a woman’s story made news headlines when she claimed her Amazon Echo had recorded a private conversation and sent it to a random contact. As reported in aCNBC article, the woman’s family only became aware of the privacy breach after the person who received the conversation alerted them of the incident.
In response to this accusation, Amazon stated that Alexa accidentally interpreted background noise as a command to send the audio to the random contact, who was based in Seattle. It would have involved Alexa misinterpreting random noise as the wake word, the command, and the name of the specific contact.
How to Stop Alexa From Listening
If you want Alexa to pick up on your voice commands, you’ll have to continue letting it monitor background noise to detect your wake-up command. However, if you only want to use your Echo speaker to play audio, and don’t want to interact with it using your voice, you can stop Alexa from listening to you.
The easiest way to do this is to press themute buttonon your Echo speaker.
The image above shows the mute button being activated on a 4th generation speaker, but all generations have a mute button that looks like a circle with a line going through it. Once you press this, Alexa will stop listening. You’ll know that listening has been deactivated when theEcho ring light turns red.
If you want Alexa to listen to your voice commands, but also want to heighten your privacy, there are some tips and tricks you can try.
Firstly, avoid using the “Computer” wake word, as this is a common word that could easily come up in your conversations. Stick to less common wake words, such as “Ziggy” and “Alexa” to help lower the instance of Alexa listening when it shouldn’t be.
Additionally, consider deleting your Alexa voice history. This will remove any in-app recordings of your voice that Alexa may have taken in the past. Check out our guide onhow to boost your privacy when using Alexato find even more nifty tips.
While Alexa has been known to take its listening habits a little too far, there are things you can do to limit the kind of data it can collect. Keep this in mind if you want to boost your Alexa privacy levels.
