How to delete Amazon Alexa recordings for privacy

Amazon devices like the Echo keep a copy of everything you ask Alexa. This means that there is a whole collection of recorded voice recordings for each request or command you have given to the Amazon voice assistant.

Amazon says Alexa only starts recording when it thinks you said the waking word (default is “Alexa”), so it doesn’t listen all the time. But sometimes, it uses a small sample of voice recordings to train the voice assistant to work better, which means that in rare cases, humans could review these recordings to understand if Alexa misinterpreted a request. .

If you use Amazon Alexa a lot, it’s worth knowing how to prevent you from saving those recordings or using them for training. This is what you do.

There are several ways to view your Amazon Alexa voice history. I prefer to use the Alexa app on my phone, as it’s always in my pocket, but you can also visit Amazon’s website. Here’s what to do on your phone:

• Download the Alexa app for iPhone or Android.
• Open the Alexa app.
• Tap “More” at the bottom right.
• Tap “Activity.”
• Choose the “Voice History” tab at the top.
• Next to “View,” choose “All History” and “All Devices.”

You will now see a list of everything Alexa has recorded. Scroll to play a snippet of audio recorded by Alexa.

The easiest way to clear it all at once is to simply say “Alexa, delete everything I’ve ever said.” You can change it to “Alexa, delete what I just said” to delete the last question you asked, or “Alexa, delete everything I said today” to delete everything you said in one day.

However, there are some bonus settings you should be aware of. You can also configure Alexa to delete everything automatically after a certain time. I have set mine to delete everything above every 3 months. To configure:

• Download the Alexa app for iPhone or Android.
• Open the Alexa app.
• Tap “More” at the bottom right.
• Tap “Settings”
• Choose “Alexa Privacy”
• Tap “Manage your Alexa data”
• Change the setting to “Choose how long you want to save recordings” to your preferred time period, indefinitely, for 18 months, for 3 months, or never.

Finally, you can prevent Amazon from using your recordings to form Alexa. Amazon says that “only an extremely small fraction of voice recordings are manually reviewed” and that if you turn it off, “voice recognition and new features may not work well for you.”

I have it out and it works fine. You may also want to. To do it:

• Download the Alexa app for iPhone or Android.
• Open the Alexa app.
• Tap “More” at the bottom right.
• Tap “Settings”
• Choose “Alexa Privacy”
• Tap “Manage your Alexa data”
• Scroll down and turn off the activation button in “Help improve Alexa.”
• Make sure the bottom activation buttons for family members (if you have them connected to your account) are also turned off.