The Easiest Way to Reset or Reset Any Amazon Alexa Enabled Device
Devices with a built-in smart assistant offer a convenient, hands-free way to control the rest of your smart home, but as with any technology, they sometimes run into technical issues. If your Amazon Alexa-enabled device, such as an Echo or Echo Dot, is having intermittent connection issues or is unresponsive, you may need to restart it.
How to restart Alexa
If you need to reset an unresponsive Alexa device, you just need to turn it off and on again. You can do this by unplugging the device or power adapter from the outlet or power strip and plugging it back in. (If your device is battery-powered, remove the batteries and put them back in.)
If your Alexa device is hidden or the power adapter is hard to find, you can make rebooting easier by plugging it into a power strip with a foot switch that you can turn on and off or a smart plug that you can control from your phone. Alternatively, plug your smart speaker into an outlet connected to your light switch.
When (and how) to reset Alexa
If your Alexa-enabled device is still not responding after turning the power off and on, you may need to restart it. Amazon has specific instructions for different models , but common to the newest generation of devices is the choice between a soft reset (which preserves smart home connections) and a hard reset (which returns your device to factory settings).
To perform a soft reset, press and hold the Action button on your device for 20 seconds until the light ring goes off and comes back on. This will activate setup mode. Follow the instructions to set up your specific device . To perform a hard reset, press and hold the microphone mute and volume down buttons for 20 seconds until the light ring goes out and comes back on. This puts your device into setup mode, but it also erases personal information and connected devices, so don’t do this unless necessary.