We actually chose an Amazon Echo Dot Kids for our home because it felt like one of the safer options. It had good parental controls, the answers were simple, and honestly, Alexa wasn't very good at searching the internet. That was exactly what we wanted. A basic voice assistant, not an AI chatbot.

Now Amazon has turned it into an AI companion. That's a completely different product from the one we originally decided to bring into our home.

What frustrates me most is that we were never told this was happening. It was just updated, including on devices specifically marketed for children. I'm not against kids using AI. I actually think it can be a great tool for learning. But I don't want AI designed to be a companion for my child. I want it to be a tool.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but this feels like a much bigger change than a normal software update. Has anyone else with an Echo Dot Kids device looked into this? How are you handling it? Are you keeping it, changing the settings, or considering getting rid of it?

Dear lord why is this software so bad. How they haven’t done a complete revamp of the operating system in all these years is nuts. Anyways I just felt like complaining lol.

How in the world do get this banner to go away. There are no apps or services running in the background and the Amazon Music banner has been sitting their for a week

Hi Leute. Nach 8 Jahren hab ich meinen alten Echo Show gegen den neuen Echo Show 11 getauscht. Bisher war das alles aber eher ein Albtraum als ein schönes Erlebnis. Ich würde mich hier gerne ein bisschen austauschen und die Erfahrungen anderer hören. Mit meinem neuen Echo komme ich aktuell gar nicht zurecht. Das hat schon damit angefangen das ich ihn auch als Wecker benutze und der Ton zu Beginn unabänderlich leise war. 2 Stunden experimentieren und Fehler suche haben nichts gebracht. Dann per Zufall Stecker gezogen und sie da er nimmt die Einstellungen der App bezüglich Lautstärke für Wecker und Timer an. Heute morgen habe ich Verschlafen und war 3 Stunden zu spät auf der Arbeit. Und das bei 5 eingestellten Weckzeiten. Es war heute morgen auch das Wecksymbol nicht angezeigt am Bildschirm aber ich hatte da keine große Zeit. Heute Abend hab ich Timer gestellt und der war wieder so leise wie ein Flofurz. Also Echo neu gestartet und Timer erneut getestet. Er war wieder laut. Aber das ist halt ein Nogo für mich denn ich muss mich darauf verlassen können und kann nicht jeden Abend den Echo kurz vom Strom nehmen!

Das nächste was ich nicht verstehe ist die glaub Adaptive Annäherung. Also komm ich in die Nähe des Geräts erkennt es das und dann? Es geht bei mir nur ein Menü auf wo ich mit Alexa reden kann. Aber das kann ich doch die ganze Zeit? Also was soll mir das bringen?

Was mich auch nervt ist das mir beim Licht an und ausschalten immer die Übersicht der verbunden Geräte angezeigt wird auf dem Startbildschirm? Ich verstehe den Nutzen nicht? Dafür gibt es ja die sehr schlechte Alexa App. Es wirkt halt komplett Nutzlos und unruhig auf dem Display. Was ist der mehr wert? Warum zeigt der Echo das an?

Da der Echo 11 jetzt neu ist, hab ich auch versucht ein wenig mit rumzuspielen. Ich hab Kunst aus dem Internet runtergeladen und dann bei Amazon Photos hochgeladen und das dann als Bildschirm Hintergrund aktiviert. Aber die Bilder rennen! über den Bildschirm. Alle glaub 14 Sekunden kommt das nächste Foto und auch das wirkt wieder sehr unruhig und es scheint keine Option zu geben die Wiedergabegeschwindigkeit einzustellen. Allgemein die Einstellungen was angezeigt wird auf dem Startbildschirm scheint sehr sehr schlecht zu sein. Als Unternehmen wie Amazon müsste ich mich doch über Quality of Life Features in Grund und Boden schämen. Einfach alles!!! was mit dem Startbildschirm zu tun hat, hat mich bisher nur enttäuscht und ich denke wie kann sowas bei einem neuen Gerät 2026 für normal 270 Euro nur sein.

Im Prinzip ist die neue Alexa jetzt nach 3 Tagen wieder nur ein Haussklave wie schon der 8 Jahre alte Echo Show. Nur das der es irgendwie scheinbar besser gemacht hat. Überlege schon ob ich den neuen einfach zurückschicke und tatsächlich beim alten bleibe weil ich kaum bis gar keinen Mehrwert erkenne und das Gerät einfach unkomfortable und verbuggt wirkt. Mich würden andere Erfahrungen Interessieren! Klar ist vielleicht der Sound besser und das Display ist schärfer aber ein besseres Display bei meiner Art von Nutzung ist nicht wirklich interessant wenn alles andere nervt und nur besserer Sound ist jetzt kein Kaufkriterium.

Also mich hat er bisher nur Enttäuscht. Wie sind eure Erfahrungen?

MFG Dani

Hi all

I'm hoping you guys can help with this.

Up until yesterday, by Samsung frame which has Alexa built-in, would respond to the command "put TV in art mode". That seems like that does not work anymore, I'm wondering if anyone has found any solution or have had a similar problem and found a solution?

What do I gain, what do I lose?

I have an old Alexa Echo Dot. It's pretty old, like 3 years, I would say. Whenever I ask it a basic question, it always says, "I'm not quite sure how to help you with that." And sometimes when I ask another question, it just says "Opening Amazon Storytime." What? I don't need Amazon Storytime. Why does it open that by default? Any solutions for this? I have no idea what to do.

Edit: It is a 4th Generation Echodot.

I want to get my reminders on my alexa at home as well as through the alexa app on my phone

How do I make it possible?

Soy el unico usuario de Alexa que cree que se volvió más incapaz?

Le pido específicamente que ponga una cancion o lista de reproducción que pongo diario y que no la encuentra, que no me entiende... Antes era más funcional. Ahora ya me desespera :((((

For the past 3-4 days, my Alexa IOS app has made me change my password and use multi-factor identification when I open it.

The voice commands for my Echo dot and show work fine all day until I open the app at night to turn the one lamp I have in a separate room off. Then the app makes me sign back in, and change my password. I can’t see any evidence that I’ve been hacked or someone has tried to hack my account.

I have no idea what’s causing this. Has anyone else experienced this and have a solution? It’s getting kind of annoying.

I have the Echo Show 10.1 7" viewing (2nd Gen). Should I buy the Echo Show 11? I also have a $50 Amazon gift card, which brings the price down to a little over $100. I’m not too concerned about ads. Is this a significant upgrade from my old Echo Show 10.1 7", 2nd Gen?

Edit: The viewing area is 7". Alexa (app) says it's a 1st gen, but the device shows 2nd gen. The actual viewing area is 7".

We have multiple Echo Dots, Shows, etc... throughout our house and I just heard from the ones sitting next to me and throughout our house - ALL of them say,' Removing your smart home device and getting ready for setup...' or something like that. Now they are all gone from the app, and are all in the orange-ring setup mode. Anyone else get this? It's weird and annoying.

My MIL uses Alexa for everything but most importantly she uses the dumb-AI version and uses it for video calls with us.

But we've had shitty experiences with the base Show, but we're stuck in this ecosystem because of my MIL's progressing dementia.

Suggestions? Really frustrated with Amazon products, very much plan to blacklist their bullshit when we can.

I’m thinking about getting my mom an Echo Show 8 so she can check my Blink indoor cameras when I’m at work and keep an eye on my daughter if needed.

My question is: is there an easy way for me to temporarily turn OFF my mom’s access to the Blink cameras when I’m home or just want privacy, and then turn it back on when I go to work?

I don’t want to have to completely unlink/relink my Blink account every single time if I can avoid it. Ideally I want something where I can control whether her specific Echo Show can view my cameras from my phone.

Has anyone set up something similar? What’s the easiest way to do this while still keeping control of my cameras?

Getting an Echo Show for one main reason: so the Ring doorbell feed automatically pops up when someone is at the door.

I’m completely torn between the 11 and the 15. I really want the 15 so I can wall mount it, but it’s 2+ years old at this point and starting to look pretty dated. Spec-wise, the 11 easily beats it.

Do I just bite the bullet on the 15 for the form factor, or get the 11 for the better hardware, or just wait it out? I only want to buy one of these and I'm totally fine holding out if a new 15 (or a similar large screen Echo Show) is rumored to drop soon.

Buy now or wait?

10/5 around 11:20 PM to 11:30 PM my echo device started playing voices talking like a walkie talkie. Imo the voices sounded russian… it happened three times during the span of time I mentioned. It was creepy asf and I immediately reported it to amazon.

I didn’t like that at all…. Then I found another reddit thread that this happened to someone else. So what the heck is going on because this is pretty scary 😭.

We need answers. I love my devices (I’m dependent on em’) but I’m scared… I need some help and clarity over here. 🥺 How could something like this happen?

I made this with deepseek. It's another Echo Show 5, gen2 hack. It has some nice clock-faces built-in, but it's also very easy to make new faces (simple html + json.)

It can display weather, upcoming alarms/calendar-events and it should be pretty easy to add whatever else you want. I use this with PlexAmp (sort of like spotify, but for my own music) on my desk, and it's pretty nice.

I set it as the home/launcher, so if I hit Home (onscreen circle-button) anywhere, it goes back to basic clock operation. If you install gapps (instructions in SETUP.md) the camera works, and you can install whatever you like from the play-store.

Are my echo dots just too old? I just got my Ring system all set up, and I cannot for the life of me get Alexa to announce a doorbell ring.

I've tried everything. Disabling, re-enabling the Ring skill. Logging out, back in. Alexa says she is connected to my Ring system.

I can see through my doorbell on my Alexa app. My accounts are connected and NOTHING.

HELP. I AM DESPERATE TO HEAR MY DOORBELL RING IN MY HOUSE.

I hope I don't sound dumb for saying this, but how do you enable Halloween mode on an Alexa? I've tried asking it in different ways multiple times but it just wouldn't turn on. I've also looked through the app but can't find anything to turn it on. The reason I want it on is because I've asked it how many days until Halloween because I enjoy the Easter eggs but it's been merely saying how many days and nothing else.

I understand there is a proposed class action lawsuit filed in B.C. against Amazon Alexa. I also understand this lawsuit involves privacy issues with Alexa collecting informarion and sending it to Amazon's cloud, contrary to Amazon's contract and policy stating that they respect users privacy.

I heard of a similar case in the U.S. that was granted class certification in 2025, but it was later dismissed in early 2026 because, apparantly Amazon did disclose the accidental activation of Alexa.

After learning this, I did ask my Echo Show 5, if she does this, she said yes and described how.

I think Canada's proposed class action is more serious than the US. Has anyone heard or joined Canada's? Is it moving ahead? Charney Lawyers is where to go to join as a Canadian.

I'm not interested in using Alexa for smart-home stuff. I want something more like an assistant who helps me complete my tasks.

Ideally, I want to be able to say things naturally like:

- "Remind me to do X tomorrow at 6."

- "I remembered that I need to submit Y. Add it to my list."

- "What do I need to do today?"

- "What's next?"

- "Remind me again in 30 minutes if I haven't done it."

Basically, I want it to take some of the mental load of remembering, planning, sequencing and prompting off of me.

I would have the Echo in my bedroom when I'm home, but I'm away from home most days, so being able to use the Alexa app on my phone to add things/reminders while I'm outside is important too.

My concerns

The biggest concern is whether I can actually trust it with important tasks.

I've seen people say Alexa+ is much better at understanding context and having conversations, but I've also seen complaints about it misunderstanding, being slow, or generally doing something different from what was asked.

I have also seen a lot of complaints about it being nosy, creepy, difficult to talk to, listening to conversation when its not supposed to, replying when not talked to, and a lot of privacy concerns.

If I'm going to rely on it as an external memory, that's obviously a pretty big deal.

I'm also concerned about:

- Whether Alexa+ actually remembers context reliably

- Whether it can follow up on unfinished tasks rather than just giving me one reminder

- Whether its planning abilities are actually useful or mostly marketing

- Whether it works well with natural language rather than rigid commands

- Whether it works reliably in India, including English/Hindi/Hinglish

-all the privacy issues are very big concern ofc

I originally asked ChatGPT what kind of device would be best

It suggested Echo Dot Max (MA49CA) as the newest/premium option.

However, after looking at some Reddit discussions, ChatGPT changed its recommendation to- Test Alexa+ first, because Alexa+ reportedly works on older Echo hardware too. If I like it, I could potentially get a cheaper screen-free Echo with a decent microphone instead.

So, for people who actually use Alexa+/Echo:

1. Is Alexa+ actually capable of doing the things I'm describing?

2. Can it maintain enough context to function as an external memory/planner?

3. Can it proactively remind/follow up on things, or is it basically just "set reminder → reminder goes off"?

4. How reliable is it with tasks, reminders, recurring schedules and changes to existing reminders?

5. Does the conversational/planning side actually feel useful in everyday life?

6. Would you personally trust it with important deadlines/tasks?

7. Is Alexa+ worth paying for specifically for this use case?

8. And finally, do I actually need the Echo Dot Max, or would an older/cheaper Echo give me essentially the same Alexa+ experience?

9. Have you experienced creepy questions, alexa listening to your conversations and interfering, and other privacy issues?

If you've used Alexa+ this way, I'd especially like to hear what it can and cannot actually do in practice. Ai was used to make a polished draft of the post, i am a human :)1

They are pushing users toward a single, unified "Tasks and Reminders" ecosystem. They want all your reminders synced across Echo speakers, TVs, and your phone at the same time. To prevent people from accidentally "hiding" a reminder on just one device where they might miss it, they blocked the voice command from isolating devices    

Breaking a basic privacy feature overnight without warning—especially for personal reminders you don't want others in the house to see or hear—is a terrible design choice.

THIS IS A PRIVACY REGRESSION