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One of the most convenient aspects of tech is the ability to get information instantly, just by asking. Digital assistants, such as Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, can make getting information even easier — all you have to do is speak your question.
But over time we’ve learned that gathering information isn’t just one-way. Instead, your devices may be listening to you, even when you wish they wouldn’t.
If you’ve ever seen ads based on a discussion you’ve just had, you may be creeped out by the idea that you’re being listened to by your tech. Or maybe your search results seem to prompt you towards words you just said in a conversation.
Don’t miss => Is Your Phone Is Listening to You? Here’s How to Stop It.
And digital assistants may not be the only ones listening to you. Recent reports reveal that actual human beings may listen to queries made to digital assistants, to help improve their responses.
What if you don’t want to be heard by your devices? What if you’d prefer to keep your conversations private?
There may be times when you want to turn off the microphone on your devices so they won’t listen to your conversations. Maybe you want to leave the microphone off and only turn it on when you need it. Or maybe you just want to know how to turn off the microphone in case you may need to some day.
By adjusting your privacy settings and learning how to turn off your devices’ microphones, you can better protect yourself from your devices listening to your conversations when you don’t want them to.
Infographic
This handy infographic shows you how to adjust your privacy settings and how to turn off the microphone on your devices quickly and easily.
The next time you’d prefer not to be heard by tech, follow these steps:
Alexa on Echo Speakers
You can turn off the microphone on Echo speakers to stop Alexa from listening. Turn off the microphone by pressing the microphone button on your Echo speaker. When the microphone is turned off a red ring will appear around the top of a traditional Echo speaker. On an Echo Show or Spot, a red line will appear at the bottom of the screen.
You can also ask Alexa, “Delete everything I said today” to delete conversations that Alexa has recorded.
Check out => How to Hear Your Conversations That Alexa Has Accidentally Recorded
Amazon now gives Alexa users an option to prevent humans from listening to their recorded conversations, while Apple and Google have recently halted human review of Siri and Google Assistant recordings. See Bloomberg, Amazon Gives Option to Disable Human Review on Alexa.
Here’s how to change your Alexa settings to prevent humans from listening to your conversations.
Go to the Alexa Privacy page and click on Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa.
On the next page, turn off Help Improve Amazon Services and Develop New Features.
If you want to be 100% certain Alexa isn’t listening, unplug your Echo device.
Google Assistant
To adjust your privacy settings for Google Assistant, go to the Google Activity Controls page, then scroll down to Voice & Audio Activity.
Turn this feature off to prevent Google from saving a recording of your voice commands to Google Assistant. According to Google:
“Your audio is saved to your account only when you’re signed in and Voice & Audio Activity is turned on. Audio can be saved even when your device is offline. When Voice & Audio Activity is off, voice inputs won’t be saved to your Google Account, even if you’re signed in.”
On the Voice & Audio Activity page, you can see a list of conversations Google Assistant has recorded. You can listen to the Google Assistant recordings and/or delete them.
Smart Video Doorbell
Smart video doorbells can be very handy for seeing who is at your door, but they can also be vulnerable to hacking. As with any other online account, be sure to keep your video doorbell account safe by choosing a strong, unique password and not sharing that password with anyone else.
Smart Phones — Android and iPhone
Apps may ask for your permission to access your microphone, but not all apps need microphone access to work properly. You should turn off your cell phone microphone permissions for any apps that don’t need to listen to you.
Android
For Android phones, go to Settings => Apps, then tap the three stacked dots. Choose App Permissions. Tap Microphone, and turn off permission for any apps you don’t want to have access.
iPhone
To turn off microphone permissions for apps on the iPhone, go to Settings => Privacy => Microphone, then turn off permissions for apps that don’t need microphone access.
Your Thoughts
Are you concerned that your devices are listening to you? Will you be adjusting your settings to help prevent your devices from listening to you? Have you ever been creeped out by ads or search results that seemed to be based on something you said?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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* Phone and earbuds photo courtesy of William Iven via Unsplash and Creative Commons
** Infographic courtesy of PhoneSpector, used with permission
Good to know Carolyn. Privacy issues run deep these days. I am considering taping my camera after hearing Mark Z does it. Anybody can watch, at any time.
Hi Ryan, Yes, we shouldn’t take our privacy for granted, especially when protecting ourselves takes such little time and effort.
Instead of tape, you may want to consider a laptop camera slide that will easily let you block and unblock your laptop camera. Here’s a sample of one: Webcam Cover Slide at Amazon.
Well thats disturbing, anything that is voiced over can be used to listen to customers. I don’t have any of these products in my home and I want to keep it that way. We need more government regulation to stop tech companies from doing this.
Hi Larry, You’re right, if you don’t like the idea of smart speakers listening to you, then you shouldn’t have them in your home. Government regulations can take years to implement so we should take steps now to protect our privacy.
Great post! I thought it was just a paranoid tendency of mine, or that I may have watched too many scary films when I was a child, about AI or technology corruption. I remember watching Smart House and honestly it has hindered me from getting involved with the new wave of Smart Home technology. I have to say it can make you feel quite disconnected from this day and age.
Thank you for sharing these points, privacy has always been a concern but it does seem to be becoming more and more under threat. I will definitely be going through all of my settings and ensuring all your tips are put into practise. Thanks again for this insightful post.
Hi Kieran, Yes, protecting our privacy while still making the most of tech can be challenging. Sometimes by tweaking our settings we can improve our privacy without giving up tech functionality that we need.
I’m glad you enjoyed this post, Kieran. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
I was kind of shocked, first noticing that my 8 years old son’s mobile phone front camera is covered with some him made “privacy” sticker. I remember Windows 10 frenzy and numerous manuals how to neutralise it’s spying powers. As I am little bit in Big Data myself, I am well aware that all our wirdness and little secrets are only mere statistics items for the gathering Corporations. So my approach is staying rational, turning obvious things off, but not getting crazy over all my “privacy”.
Hi Robert, Good points. Even when corporations aren’t using our data for their profits, their information may be hacked. We don’t know what will be used with our data when it’s shared with others. So it’s best to protect our privacy whenever we can.
wow, nice post thanks for sharing this. it is funny how these days our privacy is really been exposed. everything is listening to our phones computers, even tv set. its really something else.
Hi Josh, You’re right, it can be creepy when we have a conversation and then see an ad for something we were just discussing. Taking steps to increase our privacy may help protect us better.
Privacy really has become an issue nowadays and we have no idea how much devices around are listening to us and how much they are recording. Anything you search on Google becomes data for other websites for us to target for sales.
Hi Amit, Yes, keeping our lives private is becoming increasingly difficult these days. We seem to be tracked when we go online and in our homes if we have smart speakers. By taking precautions we can improve our privacy. It’s important for us to know our options and vulnerabilities so we can better protect our privacy.
Thank you for sharing these points, privacy has always been a concern but it does seem to be becoming more and more under threat. I will definitely be going through all of my settings and ensuring all your tips are put into practise. Thanks again for this insightful post.
Hi Kashif, Yes, you should definitely take a few minutes to adjust your settings to improve your privacy with these devices. No longer can we take for granted that our privacy will be respected by tech companies.
True talk. Great post! I thought it was just a paranoid tendency of mine, or that I may have watched too many scary films when I was a child, about AI or technology corruption.
Hi James, Yes, it can seem creepy when ads seem targeted to conversations we’ve just had. We should pay attention to our privacy settings to make sure that they are set how you want them.