How To Listen To Amazon Alexa Recordings Of Your Conversations And Delete Them

Since Amazon's Alexa works by voice command, sometimes she picks up conversations that weren't meant for her and records them - if you don't like the sound of this, there is a way to both listen to and delete any unexpected recordings.

Apparently Alexa sometimes picks up false 'wake words' and starts recording, and some of these soundbites are (very occasionally) sent to Amazon graders who use them to improve the service.

A wake word is a phrase that causes an AI device to, well, wake up and start documenting a user's request so it can be sent to the cloud for processing.

If you don't want to end up in this statistic or you're simply hoping to increase your privacy, there is a way to locate any or all recordings and delete them.

First up, go into the Alexa app on your device, tap the menu bar on the left-hand side and go into settings. Then, hit 'Alexa Privacy' and go into 'Review Voice History' - this is where you'll see the audio files.

LADbible/Amazon

You can either choose to play the files or simply get rid, which you can do by individually tapping on the empty boxes next to each recording and hit 'Delete Selected Recordings'.

If you want to erase all of them in one go, select a date range and press 'Delete All Recordings'.

If you don't want this to happen again in the future, all you have to do is go to 'Alexa Privacy' on the app and 'Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa', which will show you an explanation of the policy.

Here you can uncheck a box called 'Help Improve Amazon Services and Develop New Features' so that none of the recordings can be sent off. And so your privacy is restored.

LADbible/Amazon

This handy how-to has been doing the rounds this week after an ex-Amazon executive revealed he turns his Alexa off for private conversations.

Speaking in this week's BBC Panorama special 'Amazon: What They Know About Us', Robert Frederick admitted: "I turn off my Alexa whenever I want to have a private moment.

"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."

Topics: Technology, Amazon

Daisy Phillipson

Daisy is a UK-based freelance journalist with too many opinions. She loves everything film and music-related and has a track record writing for Little White Lies, BWRC, and Film Daily. Contact her at [email protected]