Key Findings

Always-On Listening Severe

Alexa devices continuously listen for wake words. While Amazon claims only recordings after the wake word are saved, multiple instances of unintentional recordings have been documented.

"Alexa streams audio to the cloud when you interact with Alexa... your voice recordings may be reviewed to improve our services."
Human Review of Voice Recordings Severe

Amazon employs workers who listen to and transcribe Alexa recordings. Though you can opt out, this setting is buried deep in privacy controls.

"We use your requests to Alexa to train our systems. An extremely small sample of voice recordings are manually reviewed."
Massive Data Ecosystem Integration Severe

Alexa data is combined with your shopping, browsing, Prime Video, Kindle, and all other Amazon service data to build detailed consumer profiles.

"We may combine information from Alexa with information from other Amazon services to provide, personalize, and improve our services."
Third-Party Skill Data Sharing Severe

When you use Alexa Skills (third-party apps), your voice data and interactions are shared with those developers under their own privacy policies.

"When you interact with a third-party Alexa skill, your request may be shared with that skill provider."
Voice Profiles Identify Family Members Moderate

Alexa can create voice profiles for household members, identifying who is speaking and building individual profiles including for children.

"Alexa may recognize different voices in your household to personalize the experience for each person."
Targeted Advertising from Voice Data Moderate

While Amazon claims not to use voice recordings for ads, the interests and preferences derived from your Alexa usage can influence advertising across Amazon properties.

"I don't sell your personal information... we may use information to show you interest-based ads."
Indefinite Data Retention Moderate

Voice recordings and associated data may be retained indefinitely unless you manually delete them. Even deleted recordings may be kept in processed form.

"You can delete voice recordings... however, transcripts of your requests may be retained."

What This Means For You

Using Alexa means accepting one of the most invasive data collection regimes in consumer technology:

  • Every voice interaction is recorded and can be reviewed by humans
  • Your home conversations may shape your Amazon shopping recommendations
  • Third-party skills expose your data to countless additional companies
  • Family members including children are profiled individually

Immediately review Alexa Privacy Settings, disable "Help Improve Alexa," and regularly delete voice history.

⚠ Lowest Rated in Category

Amazon Alexa receives our lowest score in the Smart Home & IoT category due to its extensive always-on listening, human review programs, deep integration with Amazon's advertising ecosystem, and complex privacy settings that make it difficult for users to understand or control their data. Consider whether the convenience is worth the privacy trade-offs, or explore alternatives with better privacy practices.