Amazon stores everything you ask Alexa indefinitely. But it’s easy to delete the information if you know how.
Online privacy remains a huge talking point. So much so that Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., recently wrote to Amazon asking how it goes about storing data regarding consumers who use the company’s Alexa-controlled Echo speaker.
Amazon Echo is a wireless speaker which is also capable of interpreting and carrying out instructions on behalf of the user. Using nothing but the sound of your voice, you can ask Alexa to play music, search the web, create to-do and shopping lists, shop online, get instant weather reports, and control popular smart-home products—all while your smartphone stays in your pocket.
In June, Amazon’s VP of public policy, Brian Huseman, responded by admitting that the company stores Alexa transcripts unless a customer specifically requests for them to be deleted.
Huseman insisted that Amazon retains this data to improve Alexa’s response, adding that audio is only sent to Amazon when an Amazon Echo hears the wake word, namely “Alexa.”
Yet in May, Amazon made it easier to delete the things you ask Alexa. Here’s how:
First, you can say “Alexa, delete everything I said today,” or “Alexa, delete what I just said.”
But, if you want to delete things you said earlier, do this:
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the menu icon on the top-left corner of the app.
- Tap “Settings” at the bottom.′
- Tap “Alexa Account” at the top of the page.
- Select “History.”
However, this process only lets you delete things one by one. If you want to delete everything at once, do the following:
- Visit Amazon’s Device page
- Select the menu button to the left of the Echo device you’d like to manage. (The menu button looks like three little dots stacked on top of one another.
- Tap “Manage Voice Recordings”
- Tap “Delete.”
