These popular devices keep a recording of everything you ask them — here's how to find it and delete it

pulse

July 18, 2017 5:23 PM

Google Home and Amazon Echo are always listening, and even keep recordings of the things you ask them. Here's how to find and delete it all.

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Google Home and the Amazon Echo Dot both provide a variety of services that can help you out around the house and entertain you. But to accomplish this task, they also keep audio recordings of everything you have ever asked them. It's a little bit creepy, but both companies say this history is important to help the devices learn and serve you better. If this still bothers you, here's how to find the recordings and delete them. Following is a transcript of the video.

"Ok Google, are you recording me right now?"

Google Home and Amazon Echo Dot are always listening to you.

And they save audio recordings of everything you ask them.

Google says it uses the recordings to personalize your experience and improve your results.

And Amazon says deleting the records may degrade your experience.

These virtual assistants can be fun and helpful around the home. But if you are concerned with privacy, here's how to stop them from recording.

For a temporary solution, simply turn off the microphone.

For Google Home, open the Google Home app and navigate to "My Activity." By pressing the clock icon here.

You can also go to the menu, click "More Settings," and scroll all the way down to "My Activity."

You will see a list of everything you have ever asked it, and you can listen by clicking "Play."

Press the three dots to see more details or delete the item from the history.

You can also search for specific entries and delete entries by date.

In a section called "Activity Controls," you can turn off the recording function completely, which limits its functionality.

You can also see all of your history at this URL: MyActivity.Google.com.

For Amazon, open the Alexa App. You will see a feed of "Cards" showing what you have asked Alexa, with audio clips of your voice.

You can click "Remove Card," but that doesn't delete it from your history.

Go to the menu, then "Settings," and "History."

Select an entry, and you can remove it by clicking "Delete Voice Recordings."

To delete all of the recordings, go to Amazon.com/MYCD.

Click "Manage Voice Recordings" and press "Delete."

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