The last thing you need is your smart speaker chiming in with shipping updates too. If you're like a lot of folks, you might get an email, a text message and a push notification from the Alexa app whenever an order ships or arrives. It won't change anything if you never whisper to your device, but if you do, well… Give it a try.) More Alexa settings you won't regret switching off (While you're there, flip on Whisper Mode too. To turn on Brief Mode, tap More, then Settings and then Voice Responses. Instead, you'll just hear a pleasant notification tone acknowledging the command. No more "OK, turning off three lights" or other parroted replies from Alexa when executing simple commands. The other setting is one you'll actually want to turn on - because turning on Brief Mode effectively turns off unnecessary Alexa responses. Some Internet denizens report that the more Amazon Echo devices they have, the more often they get unwanted suggestions. To turn off Hunches, tap More in the Alexa app, then Settings, then Hunches. I've already mentioned how Hunches have the potential to be quite helpful, but some people may find them a bit too invasive. Everyone should change these Alexa settings In the Alexa app, go to More, then Settings, then Notifications and tap Things to Try. (Several other threads repeat this advice as well.) It's a good idea to turn off Things to Try regardless - there are far better places to learn about Alexa's best features than Alexa. One response on an Amazon forum from a poster identified as "Amazon Staff" suggests turning off the Things to Try setting. To get a bead on where those settings might be, I did a bit of internet sleuthing. Either select an existing child's profile or tap Add Child to make a new one, then tap through the rest of the pages.Īt least if you have an Echo Dot with Clock, you won't be asking for the time as often.įor anyone who doesn't want to limit their Amazon Echo's functions to the extent that the kids' setting does, you're going to have to dig around in settings for a while to find all the various options that'll help. About midway through the next page, tap Amazon Kids, flip the toggle on, then tap Setup Amazon Kids on the next page.Ĥ. ![]() Scroll to the Echo device you'd like to make a kids's edition and tap its name.ģ. Open the Alexa app and tap Devices in the lower menu bar, then tap Echo & Alexa at the top.Ģ. The only way to really know if you can cope with the limitations applied to younger customers is to try it. Communication is also hobbled a bit - kids'-edition Echos can Drop-In (aka, call or video call) with other devices in the home, but calls with Echos outside the home, even those belonging to friends and family, are totally disabled.īut most of the things most people use smart speakers for - smart home control, asking the time or the weather, answering random questions - those all work the same. In kids' mode, for example, music defaults to playing only nonexplicit versions, which might be a deal breaker for some music fans. That means no more interruptions, but it limits some other functions too.Įcho Dot Kids are obviously designed for younger people, but any Amazon Echo can be turned into a kids' edition in settings. Every Amazon Echo device, however, has a setting that can turn it into a kids' edition, at least in terms of how it operates. The extreme method: Become a kid againĪmazon makes a couple of kids' edition devices - the Echo Kids speaker and the Echo Show Kids, which has a display. If killing off Alexa interruptions is as much of an obsession for you as it was for me, I did find one pretty extreme option that works better than all others combined - but it comes with some pretty steep compromises you may not be willing to make. ![]() Those are great (unless you think they're creepy, in which case, here's a bunch of other stuff you might want to turn off, too). To be clear, I'm not talking about Alexa Hunches - when Alexa notices you, say, turned off the front porch light but forgot to lock the door, so your speaker lets you know. Just because you ask for a recipe while cooking in the kitchen doesn't mean you need help hosting a dinner party. ![]() Those annoying suggestions don't disappear completely, so know going in that this is more of a treatment than a cure. Basically, if you turn off absolutely everything you don't want or need, you can reduce the number and severity of interruptions. The only thing I found that worked at all was to take a patchwork approach. ![]() Turns out, however, there's no one single toggle that would let me turn "By the way" suggestions on or off systemwide.
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