Many people are concerned about the privacy implications of voice assistants like Alexa. It’s true that Alexa will save your voice recordings in the cloud unless you explicitly instruct it otherwise.
The Alexa app has a few settings to help with this issue. You can visit More and select Voice responses to enable Brief mode, which shortens Alexa’s full replies.
- Go to Settings
The iPhone is a great device that offers many options for customization and privacy. The settings on your iPhone control everything from how the phone works to what data it shares with apps and other devices. To access the settings on your iPhone, tap the Settings icon in the app drawer or on your Home screen. Once the Settings app opens, you can scroll down to find the Alexa option and select it to turn off the microphone.
Alexa is a virtual assistant that allows you to make voice commands from any device connected to your Wi-Fi or cellular network. It can also connect to smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and its siblings through Bluetooth. It is important to remember that Alexa is always listening, even when it is turned off, and can pick up snippets of private conversations and ambient noise. This can be a problem if the device activates when it shouldn’t or mistakes names and other words for commands.
It is important to know how to turn Alexa off on your iPhone so that you can protect your privacy. This can help you prevent unwanted activity from taking place with your Alexa device, or other smart home devices. The most common way to turn off Alexa is by going into the Alexa app and turning off the mic on the device. You can also disable Drop-In, a feature that lets Alexa manage your smart home devices for you, by visiting More in the Alexa app and disabling it.
Another thing you can do to help prevent Alexa from working on your iPhone is to restart the device and the app. This will often iron out any glitches that may be hindering the performance of your device. You can also try deleting the Alexa app and then reinstalling it, as this will often fix any problems. If the problem persists, you can contact Amazon’s customer service for assistance. The company frequently updates its support Twitter page to respond to people who report issues with their devices. It is a good idea to check this page regularly since it can provide valuable information about current problems with the Alexa app and devices.
- Select Voice Purchasing
Alexa is a surprisingly capable technology that can do a lot more than just answer questions and play music. But as the tech evolves, Amazon adds new capabilities that can be potentially invasive. One of these is the ability to make purchases using voice commands on your Echo devices. This can be a great convenience if you’re used to shopping online or you frequently order products that you need from Amazon, but it could quickly get out of hand if other people have access to your home and use Alexa to buy physical or digital items without your permission.
The good news is that you can manage how Alexa uses your personal information to make purchases, so you have some control over what other people in your household can do with your smart speaker. If you don’t want others to be able to shop with your Alexa device, you can easily disable this feature from the Alexa app on your iPhone.
To start, launch the Alexa app and tap More in the bottom menu. Then, select Settings and then Voice responses. You’ll find options to turn off Brief mode, which cuts down on Alexa’s long-winded responses, and to set a privacy setting that will require you to say your name before the Alexa app can use your voice for making purchases or other actions.
Another privacy concern that can arise with Alexa is that the assistant will keep your voice recordings and send them to Amazon for analysis. It’s important to know that you can disable this option as well by going into the Alexa app and selecting Settings. From there, you can turn off Voice recording storage and use Alexa to only send your commands to your phone instead of the cloud.
The problem with this solution is that the Alexa app may still not work properly on your phone, and there are other reasons it might be acting up. For example, your device may be in maintenance mode or you might have too many apps running in the background that clash and cause the Alexa app to crash. If this happens, try closing other apps and clearing your cache to see if that resolves the issue.
- Select No One
If you’re having trouble getting Alexa to respond to your commands, there may be a minor glitch with the device. In most cases, this can be fixed by restarting the device. If you have a physical microphone button on your Echo, press it and then say a command to see if it starts working. If it doesn’t, you can try to re-pair the device by opening the Alexa app and selecting your Echo from the list of devices.
You can also disable the microphone feature by navigating to Settings and choosing Alexa privacy. Here, you can choose how long Alexa keeps your voice recordings and other data. You can also choose to disable a number of other features that you don’t want Alexa to perform, like reading your notifications.
While it’s nice to have an assistant that can keep you on schedule and remind you of things, some people don’t want Alexa to read their notifications out loud. If you don’t want to be bothered by notifications, you can activate DND mode in the Alexa app by visiting the More menu and tapping Echo & Alexa. You can even set a schedule to turn on DND mode at a specific time of day or night.
Another option is to use an app like MusicStreamer to play your Alexa music through a separate speaker connected to your WiFi network. The app is available for iOS and Android. Once you’ve installed the app, it will automatically scan your WiFi and detect your Alexa device. From there, you can select your Alexa as the default playback device for any audio content that you create or download to the app.
Sometimes, apps can stop working on an iPhone because they run out of memory or get stuck in the background. One way to fix this is to clear the app’s cache and offload it. You can do this by going to your App Drawer (Android) or App Store (iOS). If you haven’t done this for a while, it may take awhile for the app to appear in the list of downloaded apps.
- Select OK
Amazon Alexa is a useful voice assistant with an array of features that complement a smart home, from music streaming to controlling lights and appliances to listening for smoke alarms. But Alexa also collects and stores information about your daily habits and can send you notifications. If you are concerned about your privacy, there are settings that can be switched off to limit its access to your data and prevent unwanted alerts.
The Alexa app on an iPhone or iPad lets you configure the voice assistant’s settings and monitor its activity. If you have the app open and you call out to Alexa, the assistant will prompt you to say a wake word to activate the microphone and start processing your request. The app will then show the status of your device, with a blue ring indicating Alexa is ready to take a command, purple indicating that the device is in Do Not Disturb mode, and green indicating it has finished processing a previous request or is having trouble connecting to the internet.
If your Echo device isn’t responding, it may be because you are using the wrong wake word or there is too much background noise. Try summoning Alexa by saying the correct wake word and reducing the noise around you to see if this helps.
Another possible cause is that the Alexa app isn’t running properly. You should make sure that the Alexa app is updated as often as possible to ensure that it is working properly. If the app isn’t updating, you should check with the developer to find out if there is an update available.
If you have a jailbroken iOS device, there are several Cydia tweaks that can help to fix Alexa issues. One such tweak is AutoOk, which can be installed from the BigBoss repo for free. Once you have this, it will disable the OK button on your lock screen and enable Alexa to respond to commands without needing a passcode. This tweak is a great way to get Alexa working again if you have been having trouble with the app.