AMAZON records everything you say to Alexa – and sometimes lets workers listen to the voice clips.
If that creeps you out, read on to find out how to hear everything you've said to Alexa, and how to delete all of the recordings.
Just this week, an ex-Amazon exec admitted that he turns his Alexa off to stop strangers listening in on his conversations.
That's because Amazon was sometimes sending your voice clips off to "graders".
These workers will listen to clips to make sure Alexa is working as intended – improving the system all round.
However, Alexa will sometimes record you without your knowledge, because she thought you said her name.
Here's what you need to do…
How to find Alexa voice recordings
First, open the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet.
Tap into the menu bar on the left-hand side and then tap Settings.
Next tap Alexa Privacy, and then go into Review Voice History.
This is where you can check up on all of the voice recordings Alexa has captured for you.
To listen to the Alexa recordings, simply tap the text you want to hear, and then click the tiny Play icon.
Sometimes Alexa will flag when it thinks an audio recording wasn't intended her.
The text won't display in that instance, but you can still listen to the audio file.
How to delete Alexa voice recordings
To delete audio recordings, individually tap on the empty boxes next to each recording to "tick" them.
Then go to the top of the list and press "Delete Selected Recordings" to delete those individual files.
You can also select a date range like "Today", "This Week" or "All History" and then press "Delete All Recordings" for that date range.
If you just want to delete recordings for a specific speaker, you can tap Filter By Device and choose the exact Alexa gadget you're looking for.
You can also enable deletion by voice on this page.
If you toggle it on, you can delete recordings using voice commands.
Just say either "Alexa, delete what I just said" or "Alexa, delete everything I said today".
Should you delete Alexa voice recordings?
You should be rightly worried about Amazon storing a giant log of your voice recordings.
Major social media firms have suffered hacks and leaks, so you're never truly safe.
But deleting your voice recordings isn't always the best idea.
Though deletion will boost your privacy, it may make your experience with Alexa worse.
Alexa learns your voice and habits over time to improve the service.
By removing all of your voice recordings, you undo a lot of that learning.
That said, Alexa will still function just fine even if she's not saving everything you say.
The choice is yours: do you want maximum privacy or the best service?
In other news, find out how to stop strangers from listening to your Alexa audio.
We reveal the best Alexa tips and tricks.
A terrified mum says her Amazon Echo speaker urged her to kill herself.
And Amazon recently launched an Alexa ring and a smart oven.
Do you trust Amazon to protect your privacy? Let us know in the comments!
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