How to change privacy settings on Alexa

Voice-assistant speakers can prove to be useful by serving a variety of purposes, such as giving you an update on the news, or simply reminding you of your meetings that day.

But with these benefits exist some concerns regarding privacy. For example, Alexa records your request once you say its name so it that can be processed and correctly responded to. Some of these recordings are sent to Alexa’s parent company, Amazon, which listens to and transcribes them, feeding back to the smart speaker so that its ability to respond to your commands can be improved.

Understandably, this makes some users feel a bit uncomfortable. If you feel the same way, maybe you should think about changing your Alexa privacy settings. Here is a guide on how to do so.

Reviewing your voice recordings 

1. Go to the More menu > Settings > Privacy.
2. Click on Review Voice History where you will be able to see a list of all the recordings that Alexa has made.
3. Tap on the dropdown menu which can be found on the right of the recording to play it and look at Alexa’s response to it.

Depending on how long you have had your Echo smart speakers, there might be a long list of recordings, but they can be filtered by date and even device, if you happen to have multiple Amazon smart speakers in your home, from the top of the screen. You can also give Alexa either a thumbs up or thumbs down if based on how it responded to your command, or you can use the trash can icon to erase the recording.

Deleting your voice recordings 

Source: https://adage.com/article/digital/amazon-focuses-alexa-privacy-it-unveils-new-gadgets/2200346

The easier method is to simply say, “Alexa, delete what I just said,” which will remove any recordings that were made in the last ten minutes. Saying “Alexa, delete what I said today” will delete all of the recordings from the same day, and saying “Alexa, delete everything I’ve ever said” will erase your entire recording history.

1. Go to the More menu > Settings > Alexa Privacy.
2. Tap on Manage Your Alexa Data. Your options are 18 months, three months, to not store any recordings, or to store all recordings until they are manually deleted. Select the option that is most convenient for you.