Maintain Your Privacy: How to Delete Amazon Alexa Recordings

Did Alexa hear (and therefore record) something you'd really rather no one else hears? Don't worry. You can easily delete Alexa's recording history.

Amazon's Alexa is a speech-driven virtual assistant that has quickly become a household name. It's now integrated with a number of devices including the company's Echo and Fire product lines as well as several third-party offerings ranging from Wi-Fi-enabled coffee makers to robotic vacuums. This proprietary service lets you ask a wide array of questions as well as control the aforementioned devices with just your voice, allowing for a true hands-free experience both inside your home and out in the world.

While Alexa certainly adds a level of convenience to our lives, there are potential privacy concerns centered around the fact that almost everything you say to your devices is recorded and stored on Amazon's servers. These recordings are utilized by Alexa's artificial intelligence to better recognize and understand your voice and speech patterns, resulting in an improved back-and-forth each time you make a request.

Nevertheless, you may wish to delete these recordings on occasion. Here's exactly how to delete recordings on the Amazon Alexa.

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Delete Individual Alexa Recordings

Amazon provides the ability to delete your previous Alexa requests one by one, which is very helpful if there are only select recordings that you wish to erase.

Take the steps below to manually delete individual recordings, which can be done via the Alexa app on Fire OS, Android and iOS or in most modern web browsers.

Open the Alexa app or navigate your browser to https://alexa.amazon.com.
Select the menu button, represented by three horizontal lines and located in the upper left-hand corner.
When the drop-down menu appears, click on or tap Settings.
Alexa's settings interface should now be displayed. Scroll to the bottom and select the History option, located in the General section.
A list of your interactions with Alexa will now be shown, each accompanied by the text of your request (if available) along with the date and time as well as the corresponding device. Select the request that you want to delete.
A new screen will appear containing in-depth details about the respective request and a Play button which lets you listen to the actual audio recording. Tap the Delete Voice Recordings button.

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Clear All Alexa History

clear all Alexa recordings — Screenshot from iOS

If you'd prefer to delete all of your Alexa history in one fell swoop, this can be achieved in almost any browser through Amazon's website.

Navigate to Amazon's Manage Your Content and Devices page. You will be prompted to enter your Amazon credentials if you are not already logged in.
Select the Your Devices tab (available from the drop-down menu if you're on a mobile device).
A list of your registered Amazon devices should be displayed. Locate the Alexa-enabled device for which you'd like to clear your history and click on or tap the button to the left of its name, containing three dots and positioned in the Actions column. If on a mobile device, you'll need to select a device from the menu provided.
A pop-up window should appear containing information about the device in question, including its serial number along with multiple options. Select the one labeled Manage voice recordings. If on a mobile device, select Manage voice recordings from the Device Actions menu.
Another pop-up window will now be displayed, overlaying your main browser window. To clear all Alexa recordings from the chosen device, press the Delete button. You'll now receive a message that your deletion request was received. It may take a while for the actual recordings to be fully removed, during which time they'll still be available for playback.