How to Set the Privacy Controls on a Smart Speaker

1. Find the hardware microphone control

On many Amazon Echo devices there is a physical microphone button. When the mic is off, a red light is the usual signal that Alexa is not listening.

On Google Nest Audio, Nest Mini, some Nest Wifi points and other Nest or Home speakers, there is a physical microphone switch. Google says an orange indicator means the microphone is off.

That switch is the one guests can see from the doorway. Use it during a private conversation, or overnight, if that is the level of off you want. Turning the speaker back on is a click, not a factory reset.

2. Review and auto-delete Alexa recordings

In the Amazon Alexa app, go to More > Alexa Privacy, or on a computer open amazon.com/alexaprivacysettings. From there you can review voice recordings and choose how long they are kept.

Amazon's current options, on the page opened for this draft, are auto-delete after 3 months or 18 months, or a setting that does not save the recordings. Pick one on purpose. Leaving the default unexamined is how a year of kitchen chatter stays in an account you forgot you had.

3. Review and auto-delete Google Assistant activity

On a Google account, Assistant activity is tied to Web & App Activity. Open My Activity for that account (Google's Assistant help points you there) and review what was saved. Set auto-delete to 3 months, 18 months or 36 months, whichever matches how long you actually want a history.

You can also say, at the speaker, delete my last conversation, which is the fast version for something you wish you had not just asked out loud.

4. Set HomePod so Siri is only as available as you want

Open the Home app, tap the HomePod, and open the Siri settings for that speaker. If you do not want it listening for the spoken request, turn off Listen For. If you do not want a press-and-hold request either, turn off Touch and Hold. You can leave one on and the other off.

On HomePod software 27.2 and later, the same Siri settings include a way to Delete Siri History. Use it if you want the slate clean on that speaker.

A Nest display (the screen-on-the-counter kind) may also have an on-screen microphone control. The help section opened for this draft did not give a complete, current path for every Hub model, so use the physical switch when the device has one, and look in the display's own settings rather than following a guessed menu.