How Stop Your Smart Devices From Eavesdropping
A Guide to Voice Assistant Privacy
You know it’s happened to you: You’re chatting with a friend or family member, and suddenly, your smart speaker, watch, or phone chimes in!
Turns out, it’s not just paranoia. Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are always listening, at least on a local level. And sometimes, they might accidentally get triggered and record some of your conversations.
Those false triggers are at the center of a recent Apple settlement, and over the years, big tech has given us some more options for controlling our privacy.
Here's how to adjust the settings on your devices to limit what your voice assistant records and shares with HQ or third parties for quality control.
iPhone (Siri):
Go to Settings.
Tap on Privacy & Security.
Tap on Analytics & Improvements.
Scroll down and toggle off Improve Siri & Dictation.
To completely disable "Hey Siri" (so Siri only responds when you press the side button):
Go to Settings.
Tap on Apple Intelligence & Siri.
Tap on Talk & Type to Siri.
Choose Off. (You can also select "Hey Siri" to keep the feature on but require a more deliberate pronunciation).
Android (Google Assistant):
Go to Settings.
Tap on Google.
Tap on your name/email address at the top.
Tap on Manage your Google Account.
Tap on Data & Privacy.
Scroll down to History Settings and tap on Web & App Activity.
Under Subsettings, uncheck the box next to Include Voice & Audio Activity.
Good to know on Android: You can toggle off the microphone for the entire phone. Just set a quick tile for mic access.
Alexa:
To delete existing voice recordings:
Open the Alexa app.
Tap the Menu icon (three horizontal lines).
Select Alexa Privacy.
Tap Review Voice History.
Review and delete your existing voice recordings. (You can delete recordings by specific time periods or all of them at once).
To prevent Alexa from saving future voice recordings:
Open the Alexa app.
Tap the Menu icon (three horizontal lines).
Select Alexa Privacy.
Tap Manage Your Alexa Data.
Turn off Use of Voice Recordings to prevent future recordings from being saved.
Keep in mind that if you choose to turn off hands-free access to Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa, it will really limit the convenience of these devices. And—I know this is sort of dark—but if you ever needed hands-free help in an emergency, they wouldn’t be able to respond. Just something to think about.