Very helpful for a tech newbie like me. I was able to follow each step without a problem. Now to figure out how to get Alexa to stop blurting out random things! Thanks for these helpful tips!

The Drop In feature is one of the top reasons I bought the Echo Show. We want an intercom-like feature in our house so we could call each other for help in cases when either of us are unable to move about.

Thanks so much for the ideas. The echos are very helpful for someone like me with major memory loss due to a brain tumor. I can have it remind me to do everything. Instant subscriber !

A family member died in April. It is so comforting to be able to go back and hear his voice. So glad this feature was on. Looking into saving these on anther device. Drop in is fantastic for my mom with dementia. All us adult kids can drop in on her throughout the day and see that she is okay. She doesn't need to remember how it works, which is awesome. She just hears our voice and excitedly comes running over to see who came in to visit! Love it!

Best part was you walked us through each thing. Not just said turn this off. For us new users it was very very helpful. Thank you

I have this running joke with my friends where every time my echo goes off or I ask it something I always interrupt it and say “shut up” and one day it recommended brief mode to me lmao

Thank you for this information. You’re presentation is perfect, a short explanation, then instructions. 😀

Excellent and very concise. So many people on these instruction videos get so wordy! Your “cut to the chase” format was so enjoyable!!

Thank you. Would have never known about the "sidewalk" feature.

All I needed to do was update my Alexa app on my phone and it installed Sidewalk! So I turned it off. Thanks so much for this very informative video. I appreciate people who share this kind of information with every body else who wouldn't have known about the risky vulnerabilities Amazon subjects us to. I really love my Echo and Alexa and so does the rest of my family, but privacy IS a big thing too.

This was so helpful. As a senior who lives alone I feel vulnerable and illiterate where my devices are concerned. This turorial gives me more control, and, therefore, more security and confidence. Thank you

Liked how when you would say “Alexa” you lowered the volume on that word so no ones devices would activate.

Thank you for sharing the Amazon Sidewalk feature. My wifi has gotten more laggish lately and I couldn't figure out the reason why

Thanks Steve for the information. Good to know someone is on our side.

You deliver very concise and easy to follow instructions. Yours have been the most helpful to me thus far. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for this video! My daughter gave me an Echo for Christmas and I've not had the chance to go through everything yet.

I had heard of Sidewalk and have similar concerns. I didn't intend to enable it, but didn't know it would default to enable. Thanks for the info and for showing us how to disable it.

I learned a lot today. Thank you very much. I enjoy your delivery. Straight to the point with step by step instructions. I watched a different guy today that took 6 minutes of blather before any of the tutorial part even started, which btw, included having to wait for his kid to finish eating a sandwich. Yours was great. I subscribed.

Great video, clear and easy to follow. Thanks for highlighting some of the "Orwellish" stuff!

I really appreciate you sharing this very important information. I just started using Amazon devices and was unaware of any of those security and privacy settings.

Being new to the Echo devices, this was very helpful and informative. Thanks so much.

Thank you for going into detailed explanation on everything you talked about. Extremely helpful

Thank you so much for this video. As a senior citizen we don't know of things on products we buy. I was able to go in and turn off/on the things you suggested. Very clear instructions! Thanks again! 👍👍😁

Excellent , descriptive ,good use of the display screen on the left made it easy to pause as i went through it , good job :)

Thanks for the information. I had no idea that some of these features needed to be disabled.

We call our device Lexi when we want to talk about her but not activate her

Thanks for all the tips and hints for tweeking my new Echo Show 8 and dots. You were very easy to follow and hope to see more videos and updates.

Very good instruction. Just got echo 2 weeks ago and This was very informative. That repeating things, like OK was getting to me.

Summary You have smartphone, you have no privacy 🤗

Great instruction. Very straightforward and informative. Thank you!

Thank you - as always a good informative video. I just have to adjust for the locality (im in eu-west-1). Please keep these coming. Some really handy tips.

Thank you! That was so helpful, I just received my Echo Show 8 today.

Another tip: when whisper mode is activated, try asking Alexa to tell you a joke... it makes her punchlines 100x funnier.

Great informational video. Reminder though, it is possible that everytime Amazon does 'silent' updates, they may be resetting all of their configuration back to default settings, so in the case of Sidewalk, they may be turning it back on without you knowing it. I hate having to turn my "customizable" options back to my personal choices.

I did learn a lot from your explanation, it was done slow and clear for me to figure out things. This is new to me but you made it manageable.

Just came across a channel and subscribed after seeing the great content. This is one reason why I have so far resisted from using Amazon products inside my home. Ring home security is on the cards, but still looking for alternatives. They do seem to have a good integration among all their devices which is a big draw.

Thanks man. A new Alexa user here, so this is a really good help.

Step by step with visual is so nice. Thank you

Glad you actually explained the feature in detail especially with the pawscout if your dog gets away. I think it's important to leave it on for everybody.

Finally a video that is clear and concise on how to change the Echo. Nice job. Thank you.

Good Job! In the future mention and post the recording date and/or version so people know

Steve, you are incredible to share these tips. I am grateful thank you, this is your second video I have watched. I got 2 Echo dots 4th gen and a subwoofer and I was able to follow your instructions had to go back a few times and look again that's ok coz it doesn't matter how long it takes for me to get there just as long as I do, right. lol...

This is was super helpful. I loved the brief mode setting. Tried it but it didn't work. I still keep getting the long introduction before it starts a song for example.

great vid. very helpful. most of these setting aren't on amazon uk devices ie sidewalk. Unless were using an older version in the UK.

Well done. I truly believe you organize, format and present info the best of anyone on UKposts and elsewhere for that matter! Since A LEx a listens randomly (in error of course 🤐) I recommend keeping “never” as a setting for keeping recording. Retired Gov’t employees think this best lol

I always appreciate your helpful Alexa features videos. I have learned so much more about what my devices do and what I should look out for. Thanks Steve!

This video is extremely helpful. This is the first video that clearly allowed me to see the settings that he is referring to. Thank yout

I've had my Echo Dot 4 days and was still mooching around the settings (Not really knowing what I was supposed to look for! lol) so your vid was very instructive and quite easy to follow.......and a good little workout for being able to easily move around the 'menu" and check out & alter different settings...many thank sofr your help! Cheers, Doons

Thanks, dude. Really, really, helpful.

Awesome video and super easy to follow. Great voice and the step by step visual was simple to follow. Thank you. You have another follower.

I had not explored these features mentioned. Wow! Thanks for that informative info! I look forward to seeing more of your videos

Good tips Steve and I like the wood paneling you have in the background.

Do you have the same kind of info for the Lenova "Hello Google" smart speaker? Thanks.

Direct and no filler thankyou

Thank you for your help! I'm considering buying Alexa for my home. But always look for pro's and con's ! I appreciate you! Very helpful.

Thanks immensely for your video. The capabilities of the echo device are so immense that I can't keep up. I completed each step. We all need to keep our privacy PRIVATE. Thank you.

Thank you very valuable info. I turned off some of these features that I don't use it but were on.

I enjoyed this video immensely as I have no one to instruct me on how to use the Alexa echo dot. It was a Christmas present and I was scared of it for a short time. I now have 2 as I find the echo dot very helpful with appt reminders, keeping a meditation schedule etc. Please, continue making the videos.

I honestly didn't know about all these features on Alexa. I never really bothered to investigate any. I'm glad I bumped into your video because it was so helpful Thank you Steve. I'll be watching future videos and even going back to other videos that I saw you have that should be very educational. 👍

Thanks for this! Do you know much about the energy use dashboard feature? I'm wondering whether, in the future, zigbee devices connected to a third party hub that integrates with alexa via a skill, will be able to report energy use as well, and contribute to the stats in the alexa app energy dashboard?

This was great! Thank you!

Great information everyone can benefit from. These days, silicon Valley has invaded out lives to the point where we have to turn things off to have privacy. Even then it is questionable. Nevertheless, we need more videos like this to make people aware of who may have access, what is being recorded and who may be watching without our knowledge and most importantly, how to protect ourselves.

I received my Show 5 yesterday and followed your suggestions, this is great info and timing. You have a new Subscriber.

Very informative, thank you! My main reason for getting an Echo and I just got the 4th generation. I want to be able to turn on and off outdoor lights when I am out of town. Will I be able to do this if I turn off sidewalk? This is my new toy and am still learning it.

The sidewalk feature is one that really concerned me so I'm glad you showed how to turn it off.

0:00 Intro 0:53 Feature #1 - Sidewalk 4:08 Feature #2 - DropIn 5:43 Feature #3 - Hunches 6:22 Feature #4 - Use of Voice Recordings 8:27 Feature #5 - Skill Permissions 9:35 Feature #6 - Turn off Echo Device Cameras 10:09 Feature #7 - Brief Mode

Thank you. Its nice that people share such informative things for people not so knowledgeable

Finally a useful video about Alexa! I don't like whisper mode or brief mode but it's good that you covered them.

I had most of these done but I hadn’t looked at the privacy setting before. Thanks for sharing. 👍

Excellent presenter, thank you for keeping this so Non-technical

Great video. Thanks! Just an FYI, I just got a new Echo Show 5 and when I checked the settings for Sidewalk, it was Disabled. I plan to keep it that way. Loved learning all the other features you mentioned.

You are awesome!! Subscribed and will definitely recommend your channel. Looking for something on smart lights, with alexa I have one by FEIT and unable to use

Thanks so much for this. I love the convenience and smart home features of Alexa but have always been concerned with the privacy issue. I've subscribed and look forward to your videos! Cheers!!

My concern is if these changes actually work. I trust no one. As we know anything is possible in today's world.

Excellent presentation on why we should be aware of the impact of certain features and easy to follow instructions of how to disable them. Thank you!

Steve, thank you so much for this video. It was very helpful and I appreciate you making it!

Ten thumbs up brother! Thank you

I do not have drop-in in my App for my Echo Dot, or sidewalk, I'm in Oregon

Thank you for walking us through these steps and making our homes and families even safer.

New subscriber here. You speak very clearly, your demonstrations are good as well , and not too fast, Thanks.

This was actually useful though thankfully I found brief mode on my own it's a small blessing.

My echo next to me listen to this like 👁 👄 👁

Great video! Thanks for the help! Turned everything off that i could, except the brief mode. I usually find alexa to be a pain. Very suspicious of the listening-in ability. I unplug her when not in use playing songs but wonder if it is still listening in. Trying to decide if it is worth the aggravation. May just toss it out/find out how can be recycled.

Steve, really find your reviews helpful. I'm trying to understand why some one would buy a Alexa show device in the first place. Looking forward to your next review.

Let me first say that it was an informative video and I did give it a thumbs up but if you are disabling all of the features then I wander why you have the units at all. I'm new to Alexa (but not tech or PA's) and I just purchased 17 of these for Christmas for my home and I can't see disabling any of the features mentioned. The only one that I really even paused and considered was the internet access feature however that would have been to preserve bandwidth for the home but nothing else. I'm sure you are aware that most cable and other internet providers use your equipment to provide hotspots for other people anyway and you can not disable that feature (short of not using their equipment). So if someone connecting to your devices without your consent is the issue that already happens everyday. The other features are useful although the "brief mode" might get considered if she just is talking too much.With the amount of information that is gathered on us daily I'm not too concerned if my voice recordings are being catalogued. The camera hacking is a possible real threat but I ordered devices with camera covers so although I won't be disabling the feature we will keep them covered until being used. I'm sure I'll go through and delete the recordings at random times but its really for the same reason that I delete the history and cache from my computer's browser which has nothing to do with privacy. I guess through it all my view is that given the amount of information that Facebook, Google, social media platforms and others have on us we limit the amount that we post or voluntarily give out but Alexa won't be collecting a whole lot of new data but even if she did, ok....I just want to find out how to get the car extended warranty spammers from stop calling my phone!!! Happy Holidays

Hi, I'm in the UK. I haven't go an 'Amazon Sidewalk' setting. Do I need to turn off something else?

Very helpful information. Especially about privacy settings. Thank you!

I finally got an echo dot. This was extremely helpful because I know nothing about it. Thank you

I find the drop-in feature extremely useful. I live next door to my elderly mother and SUPER elderly great aunt (she's 98), both have dementia. I can keep an eye on them and ask if they need something without walking next door. I have two Echo 5s in my parents' house and three in mine so I have two of my Echoes setup up to constantly monitor the two next door. Granted this is a very specific use case but it's exceptionally useful and time saving. All the Echoes and Rings are attached to my accounts of course. Oh! And those little 5s are great in stereo mode. I was surprised how good the speakers are.

Thanks so much for walking us through this and keeping us informed. This was so helpful.

this is really helpful, thank you. one question - specifically what kind of realistic things could happen via sidewalk that we wouldn't want?

Great video, thank you. Can't find the sidewalk setting? Is this a US thing? I'm in the UK.

thank you i didnt know a lot of my things where already enabled... just turned them off .

Hilarious that anyone who’s doing anything on the internet has any pretense of thinking there’s such a thing as privacy on the internet anyway. 😆😆😆

Thank you so much, this was very helpful to me, I just got my Echo 3 generation 2 days ago. I’m learning how to use it day by day.

Thanks for the info . Very helpful.

Thanks Steve. Time to review these settings. The “hunches” setting has been driving me nuts! Well done!! Cheers.

Dude! I love drop ins. It’s the only way I can get my wife to look at her phone

Thank you for the tip about "hunches". That thing was driving me batty!

Excellent!! I know we're a bit late to the game, but we finally got our Alexa and your videos are so helpful and I can follow along and change the settings! Thanks a million! Liked & subscribed....