How to Make Alexa Speak Less
While I appreciate anything a smart speaker assistant can help me with, I don’t want to get into long conversations with Alex. Of course, I don’t need her to answer aloud to every request or make suggestions on completely different topics, when all I asked her to do was turn off the lights.
Fortunately, there are several settings you can change in your Amazon Echo to limit Alexa verbosity, although you probably won’t be able to completely eliminate unwanted responses. Here are options for how to get Alexa to speak less.
How to enable short mode on Alexa
Short mode eliminates verbal confirmation such as “OK” when you make a request. Instead, you will hear a short beep. To enable this setting, open the Alexa app and tap the More menu. Tap Settings> Voice Answers> Short Mode to turn it on and off.
You’ll also find the admittedly creepy Whisper Mode setting here as well. If you turn this on and whisper your questions or commands – let’s say you’re trying not to wake someone who is sleeping – Alexa will whisper back in an alarming but quiet tone.
How to turn off buy suggestions on Alexa
Alexa is also known to respond to simple queries (like the weather forecast) with offers to buy from Amazon – mostly by displaying ads. It turns out that there is a setting for this too : in your application, go to Settings> Notifications> Amazon Shopping and turn off the option “Receive personalized recommendations and offers based on your buying activity”.
How to turn off the “Things to Try” feature
Another quirk of Alexa is her tendency to say “By the way …” as a preface to the information she is about to share. There doesn’t appear to be a single setting to turn this off , but you can turn off What To Try, which might help limit her chatter. Go to Settings> Notifications> What to Try and turn it off.
How to disable Alexa ‘Hunches’
If you’re using Alexa to control smart home devices like lights and thermostats, Hunches (enabled by default) will alert you if something isn’t working as expected. You will find options for this under Settings> Tips> Preferences> Suggestions . You can also set up Alexa to fix these problems automatically .
How to set up your Amazon Kids user profile
The most extreme option for disabling unwanted notifications is to use Amazon Echo with a child account ( h / t CNET ). The downside is that some other features will be limited, although Alexa will still be able to answer basic queries, play (implicitly) music, and control smart home devices.
To turn your Echo into a kid-friendly device, go to the Devices section of the Alexa app, tap Echo & Alexa and select the device you want to reconfigure. Tap Amazon Kids , turn on the panel, and select Set Up Amazon Kids . If you already have a child profile set up, you can select it. If you don’t, select Add Child and follow the instructions.