How to Make the Amazon Echo Stop Listening

The Echo is always listening for you to say Alexa and ask the device to do something for you, but you can make the Amazon Echo stop listening.

Yes, you can stop Alexa from listening for privacy reasons, but the bigger reason to do this is to prevent Alexa from accidentally activating when you are watching a video or to stop a prankster in your house from changing your music or controlling your lights.

There is no voice command to stop the Echo Dot from listening, which is a bit frustrating since it is voice controlled for everything else. Thankfully this is very easy to do when you are near the Echo or Echo Dot.

How to Make the Echo Stop Listening

This is how you can make the Echo or Echo Dot stop listening to what you have to say. On the Echo, you will see a microphone button on the top of the device. Press this and it will light up red. The circle around the Echo will also light up red.

This is how to make the Amazon Echo stop listening.

Once this is in place the Echo will no longer listen to you. Your wake word or Alexa will not activate it. Once this is done you will need to press the microphone button to make Alexa start listening to you again.

If you have multiple Echo an Echo Dot devices in your home or office you will need to make each Echo stop listening individually and turn them back on individually as well.

Why You Should Make Alexa Stop Listening

There are only a few reasons to really stop Alexa from listening. The new Alexa ads on TV and radio aren’t one, though. Amazon includes message that stops ads from Activating your Alexa, which is something Google isn’t yet doing for Google Home.

If you are watching a video on how to use Alexa or the best Alexa skills where someone is saying the wake word repeatedly, you will want to stop the Echo from listening so it doesn’t interrupt you.

Another reason would be to stop someone else in your house from controlling it as a joke or to annoy you while you are focused on getting something done. This will prevent them from using the Echo that you control to change the lights, music or make other changes.

How to Stop Accidental Alexa Responses

If you are trying to make Alexa stop listening because the service keeps activating accidentally there is a better option. Many times Alexa will activate if you say a similar word, or if you have someone named Alexa or Alexie in your house.

Instead of changing their name, you can use this guide to change the Echo wake word from Alexa to Echo, Amazon or Computer.

Stream Music From Spotify, Apple Music Amazon Music, Pandora & More

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Alexa can stream music from Spotify to the Echo, Echo Dot or a paired Bluetooth speaker. You can also stream Amazon Music, Apple Music, TIDAL, Pandora, iHeartRadio or TuneIn radio to the Echo using your voice.  Open the Alexa app and tap on the menu in the upper left. Tap on Settings and then on Music & Media. Tap on the account you want to use and then link to your account by logging into the account. You need to have Spotify Premium installed for this service to work with Spotify. You can log into all the accounts you have and when you ask Alexa to play you can say "on Spotify" or on a different service to choose where to listen. On the bottom of this page, tap on Choose default music services to pick the service Alexa should use if you don't specify.

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