6 Alexa Features You Can Turn Off on Amazon Echo Devices

Amazon Alexa is a very complete and powerful digital voice assistant. But there are some features that are best disabled.

Voice-assisted digital assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are constantly getting smarter. They have a very large number of features, some of which are well hidden, and the third-party skills of Alexa and other procedures allow you to go even further. But it is not necessary to keep everything well. Disabling certain features on Amazon Echo speakers and displays can improve their security.

Whether you want to protect your privacy, or don’t want your loved ones to “invite”themselves into your home, or just ask Alexa to stop repeating your questions and commands, here are six features you should turn off in the Alexa app.

Turn off the Drop In feature on your Amazon Echo

Drop In is a handy feature that allows you to keep loved ones close to you, for example, when you can’t physically. Unlike a phone call, an incoming caller does not need you to answer the call. The voice of the caller is immediately heard. Pretty neat the first time, but it’s easy to forget that authorized people can invite themselves into your home at any time without warning. Hence the interest, perhaps turning it off.

In the Alexa app, tap Devices -> Echo & Alexa. Select a device, then click “Communication”-> “Connect”and disable the feature or restrict it to certain devices.

Disable Hunches on Amazon Echo

Over the past two years, Amazon has developed the use of hunches, questions that Alexa sometimes asks you after an interaction. Sometimes these suggestions are useful, like when the system suggests locking your door at night or suggesting a new way to use timers, but it can be annoying when you’re busy elsewhere and want your assistant to keep quiet.

To turn off Hunches, open the Alexa app and tap More, then Settings and then Hunches. You can also just ask Alexa to “turn off your intuition.”

Prevent Amazon from accessing your audio recordings

By default, Amazon sticks to its program of using audio recordings to improve its product. If you don’t like this idea, turn it off.

To do this, in the Alexa app, go to Settings > Alexa Privacy > Alexa Data Management. From there select “Choose how long to keep records > Don’t keep > Confirm”. Then scroll down to the “Help improve Alexa”section and turn off the “Use voice memos”option. On the same page, you can also set up the system so that your entries are automatically deleted after three months.

Manage your Amazon Echo’s skill permissions

There is another very interesting menu on the privacy page – this is the menu for managing skill permissions. You can see which skills want to access your information, such as from your address to Amazon Prime billing information. Most of these permissions are disabled by default, but it’s a good idea to check them from time to time.

To manage these permissions, tap More > Settings > Privacy > Manage Permissions for Skills. Choose the type of data you want to track and enable or disable each skill.

Turn off the camera of your echo show

It’s very simple, but very easy to forget. If you have an echo show, make sure the camera is turned off or closed when you’re not using your device. Hacking into any webcam or camera is a well-known method of spying on people – a method that even governments use. Keeping your camera on is an easy way to protect yourself.

To do this, simply use the physical switch on the Echo Show device.

Activate brief mode on your Amazon Echo

It’s not technically a deactivation, but activating brief mode will deactivate the parrot side of Alexa. Assistant will no longer repeat your questions and commands.

To activate brief mode, in the Alexa app, tap More > Settings > Voice Responses. Turn on brief mode (and the very useful whisper mode, if you like).