Alexa wasn’t such a popular name before it came as the virtual assistant with Amazon devices. Whether with the Firestick or the Echo, many take Alexa as a boon. But there are quite a few who don’t like this female voice, and all they want is for her to keep mum. The good news is this is absolutely possible. And you can choose from the many ways to disable Alexa.
Before we see how to let us discuss how Alexa got activated in the first place. You might think that Alexa is on by default on all the devices. But this is not true. The VoiceView has to be activated so that you are assisted by Alexa whenever required. To do this, simultaneously press and hold the Back and Menu buttons for a few seconds, and Alexa gets turned on. This may even happen without your knowledge when you were busy trying to explore the various options.
Once Alexa is turned on, it might be tricky to turn it off, and it may take some time to figure out how to do it. Don’t worry, here is your go-to article to find out just that. But before that, if you are wondering how Firestick works without Alexa, there is always an alternative way. Our good old keyboard!
When you press the search button on your TV screen using the remote, a keyboard pops up. You can type in whatever you are looking for, a movie or a show, and go through the search results to find the one you are looking for. Let us dive into the disabling part now.
Further reading: What Is Alexa And What Does Alexa Do?
Disabling VoiceView
This is the first method you can try to disable Alexa. Similar to how you activated Alexa, just press and hold the Back and Menu buttons. Alexa will now inform you that she will not speak again. If this doesn’t work, use the settings option alternatively.
Follow these steps for the second method.
- Go to the settings menu and then to Accessibility.
- Select VoiceView
- Again, select VoiceView, and a window opens up with 2 buttons that read Turn Off and Cancel.
- Press the Turn Off button.
Now Alexa will inform you that it is turned off.
Deregister your Firestick
I suppose that you know you can access your Alexa account at Alexa.amazon.com. By logging into your account, you can deregister your Firestick and forget that Alexa voice forever. To do this, go to the Alexa website and log into your Alexa account. Here you can view the full list of devices linked to the Alexa account.
Select the Firestick that you want to remove, and you can see an option to deregister it. Click on it, and it’s that simple. Now Alexa is no longer linked to your Firestick. There is yet another way to disable Alexa, which is more of a technical thing. The next section explains how.
You may also like: What Are The Best Alexa-compatible Devices?
Eliminate The Microphone From The Firestick
This is a method by which you completely take off the microphone to not even accidentally have to hear Alexa speak. This is for those who want to maintain their privacy and don’t want to associate with the eavesdropper Alexa. Follow these instructions carefully, and you are there.
Things Required
To do the task of removing the microphone, you will need glue, a thin piece of plastic, a flathead screwdriver, and needle-nose pliers. The piece of plastic must be rigid enough to use. If you have a guitar pick, you can make use of it.
Open The Remote
As the microphone is located at the top of the remote, you can just open the remote from the top. There is no need to open the entire remote. Use the guitar pick and screwdriver to open the remote from one side slowly. Be careful enough to open just a centimeter or so, so that the nose pliers can make their way inside.
Remove The Microphone
Inside the remote, you can spot a small metal piece that is square in shape. This is the microphone. Once you have located it, remove it using nose pliers.
Fix The Remote
Fixing the remote back to its original shape is easy if you have super glue. Apply the glue to the sides of the remote and wait for a minute. You are done. The remote looks just like how it used to be.
Now that your microphone is gone, you don’t have to hear from Alexa anymore.
Altering Preferences
This is some extra information on how you can alter the preferences in VoiceView. While you cannot change the voice of Alexa, you can still make a few interesting alterations like speech volume, reading speed, etc. Go to the VoiceView settings, and you will find the following options.
- Sounds Volume: Sounds Volume is set to 40 percent of the chosen volume level. This pertains to the feedback sounds that can be reduced or turned off.
- Speech Volume: By default, Speech Volume is set to the same level as that of Sounds Volume. By increasing or decreasing the Speech Volume, you can change Alexa’s speaking volume.
- Reading Speed: This option lets you change the reading speed.
- Punctuation Level: This option is to choose whether you want VoiceView to read the punctuation marks or not.
- Key Echo: When you type in the keyboard, this option echoes characters and/or texts according to what you have opted.
It is good to know that Alexa in your Firestick doesn’t always listen to you. You have to press a button and say the word ‘Alexa’ for her to start listening. You can then give the command using your voice. Alexa then fetches whatever you asked for. Though it is as easy as this, many people don’t like using Alexa and instead prefer using the keyboard citing privacy concerns. Try the methods explained in this article and have an Alexa-free device at your service.