Here's how to delete Alexa's secret recordings of your conversations
It's easy!
Last updated 20th Feb 2020
Even if you don't own an Amazon Alexa device yourself, you'll no doubt be aware how they work. The clever AI technology uses voice commands to fulfil the desires of its consumers, and then takes action - if it can.
However, many Alexa users aren't aware of the fact that the device can often take recordings of your conversations when you haven't been directly speaking to it - for example, if you say something that sounds like Alexa, the device will 'wake up' and then begin recording your conversation to search for a command within it.
All these recordings are stored and then uploaded to a cloud storage to be processed. The worry is that it may have gotten hold of conversation snippets that you weren't intending to be recorded - but there is a way to delete them.
How to delete Amazon Alexa's recordings:
1) Go to your Alexa App and click the menu in the top left corner
2) Go to settings
3) Click on Alexa Privacy
4) Click review voice history
5) You can listen to recordings or review and delete by selecting the date range - alternatively, there is an option to delete ‘All History’
6) To review what Alexa listens to, go back to Alexa Privacy and select ‘Manage Your Alexa Data’
7) You can choose to automatically delete recordings after a set time
This comes after former Amazon executive Robert Frederick revealed in a documentary about the company that he turns his Alexa device off for private conversations.
He said, "I don't want certain conversations to be heard by humans. Conversations that I know for a fact are not things that should be shared then I turn off those particular listening devices."