Here you can scroll down to see which skills (Amazon's word for apps and features) want access to everything from your street address and contact info to your Amazon Prime payment info. While you're looking at the Alexa Privacy page, another menu worth perusing is Manage Skill Permissions. While you're turning off this feature, you might also consider setting your voice recordings to automatically delete after three months, an option you can find on the same page as Use of Voice Recordings. A pop-up will ask you to confirm the decision (Amazon seems to want you to keep it on). Scroll down and switch off Use of Voice Recordings. A separate page will open, where you can tap Manage Your Alexa Data. To disable it, tap More in the Alexa app, then Settings, then Alexa Privacy. Whether, like me, you're uncomfortable with the data-gathering potential of such a feature, or you don't like the idea of a real person listening in on your daily interactions with ( or potentially just in proximity to) your Echo device, turning this feature off is probably the best move. Use of your voice recordingsįrustratingly, Amazon still seems by default to opt users into its program using voice recordings for research purposes. To switch off Hunches, tap More in the Alexa app, then Settings, then Hunches. Sometimes these suggestions are helpful, for instance offering to lock your door at night or suggesting a new way to use timers, but they can also be annoying and disruptive when you're in the middle of a phone call and don't want to have to tell your voice assistant to stop talking. Over the past two years, Amazon has very slowly been ramping up the use of Hunches, those follow-up questions Alexa asks you after you interact. Not so nice to have that friend 'drop in' on you unexpectedly when you're still in your pajamas.

It's nice to virtually share a cup of coffee with a friend. From here, you can turn off Drop In or limit it to specific devices.

Unless you want to risk friends or family members using the feature at inopportune times, you should switch off Drop In until you want to use it.įrom the Alexa app, tap Devices, select which device you want, then tap Communications. Sounds cool when you first use it, but it's easy to forget that virtual visitors once permitted will then have access to drop in anytime, unannounced. Unlike a phone call, drop-ins don't require you to 'answer' the call: Your friend just speaks out of your device's speaker. Alexa's Drop In feature is a cool way for friends to connect during, for example, continued COVID-19 lockdowns.

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