Amazon Alexa hasn’t hesitated to make unsolicited offers for a while. And if you want to get rid of it, it’s far from easy.
“By the way,” three little words that Amazon Alexa has learned to say and even repeat, in the opinion of some, too often for several days. Because the digital voice assistant is no longer shy about giving you suggestions. Unsolicited offers, on the one hand, and which are sometimes very far from your original intention, on the other hand.
These offers can be annoying every day, especially since there is no clear option to deactivate them completely. The only solution, ultimately, at least for now, is to turn off everything you don’t need or need. You can then reduce the number and severity of these interrupts, so to speak. Offers won’t disappear completely, but they will certainly reduce the impact.
If you absolutely want to get rid of these proposals, our American colleague Dale Smith of CNET has found a solution that is extreme to say the least, but involves many compromises that you are not necessarily willing to make.
Last resort: Become a child again
Amazon has several devices for kids, Echo Kids and Echo Show Kids with a display. However, all Amazon Echo devices have the ability to switch to child mode while running. This means doing without these interrupts, but some other functionality is also limited.
For example, in kids mode, music sticks to implicit songs. Communication is also limited – Drop-In is possible, but calls from Echoes outside the home, even to friends or family, are disabled -.
At the same time, most of the main functions of smart speakers – home automation control, time, weather, answering questions – work the same way. The only way to know if you can live with the limitations of this mode is to try it. Do it:
- Open the Alexa app and click “Devices”in the menu, then “Echo & Alexa”.
- Scroll to the device you want to put into child mode and tap on its name.
- About halfway down the page, tap Amazon Kids, toggle the button, and tap Set Up Amazon Kids on the next page.
- Select an existing child profile or click Add Child to create a new one and complete the operation.
Less restrictions, more breaks
For those who don’t want to limit the functionality of their Amazon Echo in this way, you’ll have to dive into settings to find the options available to you.
One way is to turn off the “What to try”setting. In any case, it is recommended to disable this feature. In the Alexa app, go to “More”then “Settings”and then in “Notifications”click on “Things to try”. Disable both options.
Everyone should change these Alexa settings
Premonitions can be very convenient, but some may find them too aggressive. To turn them off, tap “More”in the Alexa app, then “Settings”and “Hints.”
The other option you’ll want to enable this time is Brief Mode to turn off unwanted replies from Alexa. Assistant will no longer repeat what he just did to you. To activate, tap “More”, then “Settings”and “Voice responses”. From there, activate brief mode. While you’re doing this, also activate the whisper mode.
More Alexa settings you won’t regret turning off
If you’re like almost everyone else, you’ll receive an email, text message, and push notification from the Alexa app every time an order is shipped or received. You no longer need a smart speaker to remind you. In the same menu that disables it, there are options for a bunch of unnecessary things: recommendations and suggestions, requests to mark the products you bought, notifications about a small amount of this or that, etc.
Go to “More”, then “Settings and notifications”and finally “Shopping on Amazon”. Deactivate everything there – if you want, of course.
Also disable ads if you want
If you’re looking for other things to disable, you might be tempted to disable ads. These are announcements made by other people – you or those with whom you live. If you want your phone to notify you when someone makes an announcement from an Alexa device, leave it on.
And now, with these different parameters, Alexa should talk less without being asked. There may be other settings that will help achieve this goal, please let us know.