Can Alexa Record And Playback?

Can Alexa Record And Playback?

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Alexa listens to every word you say and keeps it recorded. But can Alexa record and playback? This depends on what you want your Alexa to record. If it pertains to just recordings of what you communicate with it, yes, Alexa can record and playback. However, if you want to create voice memos or record your voice, it is still a far thought for Alexa-enabled devices.

Further reading: What Is Alexa And What Does Alexa Do?

Can Alexa Record And Playback

Alexa records each of the words you say when commanding Alexa. You can later playback those conversations using the Alexa app as well.

People using Alexa find this weird and have even pointed it out as a breach of privacy. Also, Alexa always listens even if you are not directly communicating when it is not kept on mute.

It is not only listening but also recording a part or keywords of what you say. Do Google and Amazon take the help of these voice assistants to track consumers’ behavior and send similar results along the way?

The users who do not use voice assistants also get tracked for their web activity through search queries. However, Google, Amazon, and many other companies have taken advantage of voice assistants like Alexa to track web activities through voice snippets. Now voice snippets are the keywords Alexa catches when you give commands to Alexa.

To understand better how it works, here it is.

How Do Home Voice Assistants Work?

How Alexa records and playbacks will be easier to understand when you know how home voice assistants work. So, as you command your voice assistant or talk to them, Alexa supported smart device immediately records the words of the audio clip, i.e., whatever you are saying. It then sends these audio clip files to the server. After that, the audio file is processed to find the proper response. This process is completed within milliseconds.

Due to this process, the audio files are stored on your account. This also clarifies why the Alexa device needs to be connected to the internet to respond better. An Alexa device or any voice assistant can only understand a few simple words on its own(i.e., without the use of an internet connection). These words are usually the wake words or activation words like Alexa, computer, and other default choices.

These wake words are actually used to activate the voice assistant and record the audio clip that is sent to the server over the Wi-Fi. To allow voice assistants to get activated only on the wake word, the voice assistants like Alexa are made to always listen to the conversation if the mic is on.

It listens to everyday conversation if you are close to the Alexa device. As the voice assistant hears activating works, it wakes up even if the word is not directly directed to the voice assistant.

Everything you say after the wake word is recorded and sent to the server. Therefore, the users can ensure that their private conversations are not sent to the servers even if Alexa is always listening.

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Further reading: Can Alexa Record Conversations In A Room?

How To Access The Alexa Recordings?

If Alexa records the conversation, can users access and delete them? Yes, the voice recordings stored can be deleted through the Alexa app.

One can easily access, hear and even delete the Alexa recordings by following the steps below:

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  • Open the Alexa app ( ios and Android ) on your mobile device
  • Go to Settings from the menu bar
  • Find Alexa Privacy and then find Review Voice history

You can hear every conversation to had with Alexa in the voice history. Deleting these recordings is super easy, and you can even figure it yourself. To delete them,

  • Tap on the square boxes beside each recording. Tick the ones you want to delete. Select all if you want to delete all of them.
  • Now, go to the top of the screen and tap on ‘delete selected recordings’ to delete them.
  • You would see ‘Delete all recordings’ on top of the screen if you selected all of them. Press it to delete them.

Alternatively, you can also delete your voice recordings by commanding the same to Alexa. This works well if you want to delete voice recordings from today or all of them. You can simply command saying, “Alexa, delete everything I said today,” or “Alexa, delete everything I have entirely.” If Alexa is not able to delete the commands and say sorry, I didn’t get you, and you can always do it manually. You can also contact Alexa customer care to find alternative solutions to delete your voice recordings.

Can You Stop Alexa From Recording Conversations?

Yes, you can also stop Alexa from recording your conversations in the first place. After many users were worried about their privacy, Alexa made some changes to the privacy policies, after which users were allowed to keep Alexa from recording conversations optional.

The users have an option to stop Alexa from recording conversations by making some changes in the settings. This involves:

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  • Opening the Alexa app
  • Going to settings in the menu and following the Alexa Privacy section
  • Go to ‘Manage How your data improves Alexa’.
  • This will open a full document showing the explanation of the privacy policy.
  • You need to scroll down to the bottom and uncheck the box saying ‘Help Improve Alexa services and Develop New features.’
  • Unchecking this box would mean you won’t allow Alexa to record your conversations.

Wrapping Up

Alexa can record and playback the conversations you had with her. It can’t act as a voice recorder, though. It cannot record your voice like a voice recorder on any smartphone does. It only records the commands and responses.

You can playback these conversations through the Alexa app. You can delete them as well. Also, a user can stop Alexa from recording these conversations.