How to hear and delete Alexa conversations

Smart speakers are finding their way into more and more homes, with about 120 million of them in the United States alone. However, this does not mean that there have been no doubts and controversies around these gadgets. To this day, many of us are aware of the case in which Alexa accidentally recorded and sent a family's private conversation to a contact. It's enough to send shivers down anyone's back, but do not throw your Amazon Echo in the trash. There are steps you can take to protect your privacy, including reviewing and removing interactions recorded by Alexa.

Does Alexa record conversations?

First, we need to dispel the myth that your Amazon Echo records everything nearby. Typically, the device only reacts when it hears its idle word, Alexa (or the alternative computer, Amazon or Echo wakewords). However, it records most of the interactions you have with the voice assistant, whether it is an Amazon order or a song request. While this may seem like relatively trivial data, it's understandable that interactions stored in the cloud bother you.

There may also be situations where an Alexa-enabled device mistakenly takes words as idle words. "Alexa" or variants of these are relatively common names in some countries and some combinations of words may seem close enough to "Alexa" to trigger a recording. In these cases, the device could inadvertently record a conversation that it was not supposed to resume.

It should be noted that while most of your orders to Alexa are processed by software, in some cases the records are relayed to Amazon employees. Amazon does this to improve its machine learning algorithms. Humans therefore hear a "very small sample" of voice commands, but Amazon insists that records are completely anonymous.

How can you delete Alexa records?

The good news is that you can delete voice recordings at any time. A quick and easy way to delete recent records is to ask Alexa to do it for you. After activating the settings of the Alexa app, you can simply say "Alexa, delete everything I said today."

For more control over the recorded conversations in Alexa, you can use the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet. Here's what you need to do:

• Open the Alexa app on your smartphone and log in with your Amazon account if needed. Make sure it is the same account as the one connected to your smart speaker.
• Press the Menu button and select settings on the bottom of the sidebar.
• Press on Alexa account then Alexa privacy.
• From there, you can press Review the history of the voice to see a list of Alexa records of all your Echo devices. At the top of the screen, you can also change the date range of the records.
• To delete a record, simply check the box to the left of the record and press Delete selected records from the top of the page.

If you do not want to review the records but simply want to delete them as quickly as possible, you can use another method. Simply open the Amazon Content and Devices page on your PC, then go to the address Your devices. Click the smart speaker of the history you want to erase, and then click Manage voice recordings. A quick warning screen with a delete button will appear. Just click Remove and you're done!

Here are our tips for reviewing and deleting Alexa records. Did you find any interesting recordings when reviewing your history? Let us know in the comments.