Whether working from home or heading to the office, humans are habitual creatures. Prime picks: the best Alexa-enabled devices.Great news for streamlining your setup, but bear in mind that connecting directly can also limit the functionality of certain kit. Helpfully, the fourth-gen Echo and Echo Studio both have built-in Zigbee hubs, so you can cut out the additional peripherals. These normally need a standalone hub to hook up with the rest of your home. Zigbee is a wireless standard used by all sorts of smart devices, including Philips Hue gear. With Brief Mode toggled on, you’ll hear a quick sound instead of Alexa repeating your query. For a quieter time, enable Brief Mode: in the Alexa App, open the ‘More’ menu, then tap ‘Settings’ and find ‘Voice Responses’. By default, the assistant will verbally confirm your requests before actioning them. Now that Alexa’s listening, you can cut to the chase. You can choose from a few pre-programme options, including ‘Amazon’ and ‘Computer’ – which hopefully aren’t the names of your other animals. Under ‘Settings’ in the app, tap ‘Device Settings’, then select your speaker and tap ‘Wake Word’. Got a pet called Rex? Start by changing the Wake Word so your Echo isn’t triggered every time you call your dog for dinner. You can put Alexa to work right away, but it’s worth tweaking a few settings so the assistant operates just the way you want. Echo selection: which Amazon smart speaker should you buy?.If you want to clear the lot, tap ‘All History’ followed by ‘Delete all of my recordings.’ From here, you can review your entire record of Alexa requests and filter them by date and device.

Open the Alexa app, go to the ‘More’ menu, then tap ‘Settings’, ‘Alexa Privacy’ and ‘Review Voice History’. Concerned about the recordings kept by your Echo speaker? Alexa saves snippets to improve performance, but you can easily delete this data.

Setting up alexa