Alexa has become a helpful presence in many homes, making it easy to play music, check the weather, or manage a shopping list with just a simple voice command. But have you ever stopped to think about what happens to those voice commands?
It’s a fact of life with these smart assistants: in order to improve performance and better understand what you’re saying, Alexa records and stores your voice commands. Unless you go in and manually remove them, these text and audio recordings are stored indefinitely. While Amazon uses this data to refine the service, for you, it presents a very real privacy risk.
Think about it: an unauthorized party who gains access to your account could potentially listen to your commands and conversations. They could use personal information they hear—like a name, an address, or a credit card number spoken aloud—to hijack additional accounts or commit identity fraud. It’s a risk you don’t need to take.
The Privacy Risk You Can’t Ignore
Your voice recordings can contain more information than you realize. They can reveal your daily routines, your shopping habits, the names of your family members, and even sensitive details about your financial or personal life. It’s a treasure trove for anyone looking to cause harm.
While these devices are designed to be secure, nothing is ever 100% foolproof. A single security vulnerability or a simple mistake could put your stored data in the wrong hands. Fortunately, you have the power to take control of this data and get rid of it.
Take Control: Deleting Your Recordings is Easy
You don’t have to get rid of your smart speaker to protect your privacy. You just need to get into the habit of deleting your stored recordings. It’s a simple, proactive step that gives you peace of mind.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone or tablet.
- Go to “Settings”.
- Select “Alexa Privacy” (on some older versions of the app, this might be under “Account Settings” and then “History”).
- From the privacy menu, you’ll see options to manage your voice recordings. You can choose to listen to them and delete them individually, or you can choose to delete all recordings from a specific date range, like “All History.”
- Confirm the deletion. Once you’ve made your selection, the app will ask you to confirm. Hit “Delete” to permanently remove the recordings.
By making it a habit to regularly delete your Amazon Alexa recordings, you’re taking a powerful step toward protecting your personal information. It’s a simple action that puts you back in charge of your privacy in your own home.
