Is it safe to have Alexa in bedroom?

A privacy expert has warned against allowing Alexa into the bedroom.

Dr Hannah Fry, who was the first female mathematician to deliver a Christmas lecture at the Royal Institution, has spoken out against having your smart device - more specifically an Amazon Echo - in anywhere but the downstairs rooms of your house.

The 35-year-old explained why she thinks that families should follow her example by not allowing Alexa to hear too much of your personal business.

Maybe just confine her to the kitchen, eh?

It's been speculated on for ages that Amazon might be eavesdropping on your house via the devices.

To be fair, you did buy a device that listens to your every command and set it up in the house to do just that.

Whistle-blowers suggested earlier this year that Amazon might have been tapping into conversations across Britain in order to check that the devices were working properly.

In that time, they allegedly heard a woman singing to herself in the shower, and someone reading out their confidential bank details.

That's not ideal, is it?

There are around two million houses in the UK with an Amazon device, but Dr Fry warned against the creeping acceptance to allow such devices into our personal and private lives.

She said: "I think there are some spaces in your home, like the bedroom and bathroom, which should remain completely private.

"This technology is activated by a trigger word [such as 'Alexa'] but it keeps recording for a short period afterwards. People accept that, but we should all spend more time thinking about what it means for us."

While Amazon has denied spying on ordinary folks through the devices, it has been revealed that there are workers in places like Costa Rica, Romania, and India who have been listening to as many as 1,000 audio clips each day.

That's another person, listening to stuff in your house. Weird, no?

After asking the technology companies to provide all data they'd collected on her, Dr Fry was furnished with recordings of normal, everyday conversations that had taken place in her house.

She added: "There are people who are very senior in the tech world who will not have so much as a smartphone in their bedroom.

"If a company is offering you a device with an internet-connected microphone at a low price, you have to think about that very carefully.

"I have both an Alexa and a Google voice-activated device and I regularly turn them both off. People really must set their own limits."

There you have it. It's fine to own such a device - just think about how you use it, and how much you let it know.

Your Amazon Echo generally lives in the kitchen or the living room. You use it to turn on your TV, play music and call or message friends hands-free. But there are also several benefits to placing it in your bedroom, and the best part is anyone with an Echo speaker can enjoy these features.

For example, it can help put you to sleep with rain sounds or by watching a movie on your Echo Show. Also, it's great for reminders when you don't have paper and pen on hand.

If you're concerned about Alexa privacy, you can always turn off the microphone on your Echo device, or the camera if you have an Echo Show. Here are the best uses for an Echo speaker in your bedroom.

Read more: Amazon announced the new Echo Show 15 smart display at its September 2021 fall product launch event, along with several other new Echo and Ring products. 

Alexa can help you fall asleep

If you have trouble falling asleep at night, you can use your Echo speaker to play rain sounds or gentle music until you fall asleep. You can set a timer so that it turns off after a few hours of playing. You can also follow along with a guided meditation that can help ease the day's stresses.

Or if you prefer to watch movies until you fall asleep, you can place your Echo Show on your bedside table.

Listen to music while getting ready

Music can help wake you up and get you ready to take on the day. So if you usually get ready in your bedroom, having an Alexa device in the room with you so you can sing along. Here are a few music tricks to try out.

If you're more of a wake up to the news type of person, you can also request to hear the daily briefing from your favorite news station.

Setting alarms and reminders

Rather than using an alarm clock or your phone for setting alarms, use your Amazon Echo speaker to wake you up. You can wake up to your favorite song each morning. Just say "Alexa, set an alarm for 7 a.m. to [song]."

Plus, if you set an alarm on your Echo device and mute the speaker, you can't tell Alexa to turn it off. Instead, you'll have to physically turn it off, which will make you more likely to get out of bed on time. 

Also, if you remember you need to do something as soon as you get up, you can ask Alexa to remind you at a specified time. For example, Alexa, remind me to pick up my grocery order at 11 a.m."

For more ideas, here are the best places in your house to put Amazon Echo, as well as the worst areas. Also, here are 10 Alexa features to try with your Echo device.

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