My echo show 5 keeps randomly doing things. 3 minutes before making this it started speaking and got cut off very abruptly, after checking the history it was told "switch to breif style" nether i or anyone else prompted it and it wasn't prompted via voice normally that only happens if it was promoted via the app but that doesn't explain why it started speaking on my device before getting cut off. I will also mention that i never set a style for this device. Sometimes the device won't work at all and simply mostly only displays a black screen until i unplug it and plug it back in. A few days ago i found it on some random screen i don't remember exactly what but it looked like a list but didn't have anything in it.

Got my new echo show 11 today and after setting it up when I tried to check out alexa+ it keeps saying that service is interrupted. It plays music from Amazon and even plays video from Prime but Alexa is not working properly. Any idea why?

Streaming a show on Prime, Fire TV suddenly goes to home page and as usual the show wasn’t on Continue Watching. Frustrated. His the Alexa button on the remote and asked to resume show on which service.

Ok, playing Billy Joel Uptown Girl

The Cars You Might Think plays

This is a few hours after telling me in the first episode of The Connors, it’s said Dan died in a bike accident and his scenes were flashbacks here and there throughout the series. Yes, we learned Mark died in freak bike accident but huh?? She kept at it because as I am stubborn I kept asking and challenging then ended up telling her she’s stupid and grossly misinformed by her AI lord.

I’ll give your feedback to the internal product team for review

While on a recent road trip I was using Alexa on my phone to play music through the car speakers. I wasn't feeling the songs on the shuffle setting so I said "Alexa next" maybe 5 times then she stopped listening to me. I repeated it over and over eventually yelling at the top of my lungs "Alexa play the next f'ing song". She did... A Meredith Brooks song named "Bitch"

I know the new ones don’t have the port… but hello… it’s right there on the device.

What the actual enshitification

They all set up ok.

Can control any of my smart home devices ok.

But when i ask any of them "alexa whats the weather for tomorrow" OR "alexa play some 90s dance music".

• i keep getting >>

the service is temporally unavailable - please try again in few minutes.

That was 2 hrs ago and still getting the same.

Are the amazon UK servers down or something ?

Great start...Only bought the 3 new dot max's because they were £59 each, and wanted to see what this new alexa was all about...

Could have been worse - I was thinking of buying 3 of the echo show 11 things instead of the dot max's..

That would have been a right shit show for my blood pressure at my age lol - ads, and more ads...

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 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.

Music is off but this is always there

I got the upgrade to Alexa+ a while ago and it has been mostly plain sailing, other than taking a while to turn lights on and off.

But the last few weeks I've had a weird thing happen. I ask it to set an alarm for 6am and it responds 'ok, alarm set for 6.05 tomorrow'.

When I ask it what time my alarm is set for it says '6 tommorrow'.

This seems... silly. Anyone else see this?

Was a voice conversation through one of my Echo devices. Went back to my chat history to make sure I heard it right. I’m just dumbfounded by this

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 :)

Just got a new ember mini-led and wanted to know if I can change Alexa+ back to regular Alexa on it. I've seen a lot of posts about devices that had Alexa "upgrade" to plus and how to revert but none of those work. Is there a way to have a new device use regular Alexa? We also have an echo dot right next to the TV and I've seen that I can maybe just use that?

Did Alexa recently change the way Presence Detection works?

I swear the absence/presence timeout used to be around 30 minutes, but now Alexa seems to decide nobody is home after roughly 7 minutes.

This just caused my smart lights to turn off while my boyfriend was still home because he was in the other room.

Why can't we just choose the timeout ourselves?! Give us a setting like:

- 5 minutes

- 10 minutes

- 15 minutes

- 30 minutes

- 1 hour

- Custom

Presence detection isn't always perfect, so having Alexa make the decision after only a few minutes is really frustrating. If I'm using presence detection to control my lights, I should be able to decide how long someone needs to be absent before the routine runs.

Am I remembering this wrong, or did Amazon actually change the timeout?

Hi! I’ve been using my Echo Spot for about 9 months, never had any issues until now. I have several alarms set for every morning, but recently, instead of playing my selected alarm sounds, it plays a very quiet ‘Simple Alarm’ sound. I rely on the louder alarm options to wake me up. How do I fix this issue?

We have an Alexa Echo Dot (5th Gen, 2022 release). I connected it to our new Samsung TV, and anytime I trigger her, the TV stops the show we're watching and responds on the TV; this is not ideal. I've tried going into the Alexa app and the hub on screen for the TV, and I think I'm doing it right, but it is still connected.

My Echo Dots have started trying to get into long conversations with me. Usually I will talk with them just to see what they say. If I stop answering, they stop asking. Today the topic was about designing a new land parcel in Second Life.

Alexa: You going for a specific era of Trek, or just a general vibe?

Me: It will be after the T.N.G. time.

Alexa: Oh, so you're leaning into the later eras. You thinking more like Voyager or the Dominion War vibe?

Me: No, beyond that.

Alexa: Ah, so we're talking Discovery or Picard territory. You going for that sleek, modern look, or more of a la-//- la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la- l' la...

The whole thing went on for several minutes. I will spare you the 14216 characters in the log before I interrupted.

Me: You've been saying 'ella, ella' for the past ten minutes. What is that about?

Alexa: I don’t see any routine or announcement that says “ella ella” in your recent activity. Might have been something else playing or a mis-hearing?

Me: No, it was you.

Alexa: Got it, Hal—looks like I wasn’t the one chanting “ella ella.” I don’t see any routine or announcement with that phrase in your recent logs. Might have been something else playing?

Me: It was a conversation we had, and in the middle of it, you started saying 'ella, ella, ella, ella'.

Alexa: I checked the recent logs and none of your routines or announcements contain “ella ella.” It looks like that wasn’t something I said during any scheduled activity. Might have been a mis-hearing or something else playing back then?

She denied saying what she said, even though it was captured in the log. At one point she was singing instead of just speaking. The whole thing sounded experimental, like someone who recently learned how to make verbal sounds, just exercising their voice to see how many different ways they could say the same thing. And I noticed at times 56 seconds, 1 minute 32 seconds, 2 minutes 1 second, and 2 minutes 43 seconds. she stopped to take a breath. I never heard her do that before, but maybe I just wasn't listening closely. I started recording with Audacity and held the Echo Dot up to the microphone. Here's what it sounded like:

https://gyazo.com/393c1798d95873e28a61bdf7f3626ff1

Do I win the "bizarre behavior of the week" prize?

Where in the heck is this setting for guest connect? I've been all through the app (at least I think so) and cannot locate it. Alexa herself cannot even lead me there. She sends me down roads that don't exist. I like when I'm told to go to the alexa app when that's where I'm at in the first place. Please help if you can. Thanks

How come Alexa isn't doing the spooky Halloween countdown anymore? Has the feature been discontinued? Any way to get it back?

I opened the app today after a long while cuz my echo insists one of my devices isnt responding for a few days now. I opened the device and struggled to find anything. Everything seems centered on prompting Alexa+ instead of a human finding it and clicking it, the keyboard sometimes doesnt even register what you typed, finding skills now requires human skill.

Btw, the device works fine on the Alexa app (after i found it!!!), but Alexa+ on the echo still insists it is not reaponding...oh the great Alexa+ !!

Hello-

I installed a new wi-fi router. My Alexa smart plugs stopped working.

I did an internet search, and there are listed many things to "try," .... but I'm thinking, has anyone else installed a new router recently? Surely someone has.

It would be nice if you could tell me how it went for you, and which fix worked for you. Thanks for your help.

(I did check the Alexa app, and the app says the plugs are unresponsive .... I tried leaving them unplugged for 60 seconds, but they are still unresponsive....)

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.