Why Does Alexa Come On In The Middle Of The Night?
Why does Alexa Come on in the Middle of the Night? 
The Amazon Echo (and other Alexa-enabled devices) has been one of the biggest products released in the last decade, with its smart home features and more. Yet, despite the innovation and helpfulness of smart devices like the Echo, sometimes they may have issues that make them downright annoying, if not potentially problematic.
One issue that many people have reported is that Alexa will come on in the middle of the night, but why does it do this? There are multiple reasons why Alexa may come on in the middle of the night, with varying degrees of validity. Common reasons may include making a timer, reminder, or alarm that you forgot about or accidentally made for that time.
However, some errors can cause it to wake up on its own, particularly if it thinks it heard its wake word, and it may even just be a glitch. But why does Alexa mishear so often? And what can I do to address potential glitches? The most common and easily fixed issue when it comes to your device coming on at odd hours is actually due to user error.
Namely, the idea is that someone either intentionally set a timer, reminder, or alarm for that time, or did it accidentally. Alexa devices are capable of not only setting up a timer, reminder, or alarm for any time up to 24 hours from now, but also setting them up to recur. This can be set to go off only on certain days or every day if you so choose.
A common reason why it may accidentally be set for the middle of the night is if someone set the alarm for, say, 1 am, but meant to set it for 1 pm. This usually happens because someone might just say “set alarm for 1 o’clock” after 1 pm. However, Alexa may still ask for clarity about whether you mean am or pm.
To see which timers, reminders, and alarms you have set up, you can check them out on the Alexa app. Here, every timer, reminder, and alarm that is set to go off in the future will be listed, and you can delete any that are either no longer relevant or were simply made by mistake. You may also be experiencing an issue where your Alexa device thinks it hears you.
This can happen at all hours of the day, but it is an even stranger thing to have occur since there is not much for it to hear at this point. When Alexa hears (or thinks it hears) a wake word – which can be either Alexa, Echo, Computer, or Ziggy – a blue light will show on the device, indicating that it is listening.
- And worse, if you are concerned for your privacy, Amazon records what is said for the declared purpose of training voice and command recognition skills.
- However, there have been legitimate concerns about this, especially thanks to the fact that Alexa recordings have been subpoenaed by the court in the past.
People are inclined to criticize Amazon for not only not making it an opt-in feature, but also preventing people from opting out at all. While you cannot prevent your Alexa device from recording audio (without muting the device or unplugging it), it is still possible to delete the recordings.
Why would Alexa turn on by itself?
Check for an unknown Alexa routine It’s possible you mistakenly set up an Alexa routine to play music at a certain time or based on a location. Check your routines and see if anything looks fishy.
Why does my Alexa turn blue in the middle of the night?
RobotPoweredHome is reader-supported. When you buy through links on my blog, I may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon Alexa has made life easier for me. From setting the alarm to controlling my smart devices, Alexa has become my favorite virtual assistant.
- One feature I really like about my Amazon Echo is the light ring because it communicates the device’s status with me.
- A common color Amazon Echo displays is blue.
- I usually notice it after giving some command to Echo, but occasionally I see the blue ring when I am just walking past the device.
- I have wondered why this happens, and you might have too.
So I did some research to save you the time and effort needed. While I was at it, I figured out what all the colors of the ring mean. It took a couple of hours to sort through all the information online. Alexa lights up blue to show you that your voice command is being processed.
How do I stop Alexa from randomly turning on?
2. Press the Mute Button to Stop the Echo From Listening – 
If changing your device’s wake word isn’t your style, there is always the option to mute your Echo. Muting your smart speaker stops the device from listening, which means Alexa won’t wake to any command from you or your television. To mute your device, simply locate the mute button on the top of the speaker.
This button will have one of two symbols, a microphone with a line through it, or a circle with a line through it. Once the mute button is pressed, it will light up. A ring of red will also light up around the smart speaker, this indicates that the device is now muted and won’t respond to commands. If a different color ring (or no color) appears around your echo, you may have encountered another issue.
See our guide to Echo ring colors to learn what they all mean. To unmute your device, simply press the mute button again. Alexa will be ready to listen.
Does Alexa have a night mode?
Open the Alexa app. Open More and select Settings. Select Alexa App Settings. Select Color Theme and choose Light or Dark.
How do I stop Alexa responding at night?
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Getting a new Amazon Echo or other Alexa-enabled smart speaker can be exciting: You can now shop, stream music, order pizza, call friends, play games and call an Uber without lifting a finger. But what about the kids? You never know what a child might get up to with your tech, and they can much more easily hijack your smart speaker than they could a password-protected phone or tablet. 
(Image credit: Amazon) Sure, you could always buy an Echo Dot Kids Edition, or enable FreeTime on another Echo device. But these features set Alexa to treat anyone it interacts with as a child: It tells jokes and stories, and answers questions, with a kid-friendly and educational tone. 
1. Turn off Voice Purchasing (or set a code). The worst thing your kid can do with Alexa is empty your bank account when you’re not looking. If any children will be near your smart speaker, it’s important to turn off Voice Purchasing, To do so, click the menu in the top left corner and select “Settings.” Then, select “Alexa Account,” and then toggle “Purchase by Voice” off. 
2. Turn on the Explicit Filter. You never know what music your kid might stumble across on the Internet, even when using Alexa, Setting an Explicit Filter will block Alexa from playing any songs that contain explicit words or phrases. It will also prevent your kid from streaming iHeartRadio, TuneIn, SiriusXM, Gimme Radio and Deezer. 
3. Turn off Drop-In (or restrict it). Drop-In allows a user to pop in, unsolicited, to a video call on another user’s Echo Spot or Echo Show. It’s one thing to have friends surprise you in your living room, but probably not a good idea to have people, no matter how familiar, dropping in on unsuspecting children. 
4. Schedule “Do Not Disturb Mode.” Alexa can be fun, but alerts for your calls, messages, and reminders reverberating throughout your house at night could be distracting, or spooky for your kids. Do Not Disturb mode can temporarily block calling and messaging alerts (as well as Drop In, if you have it enabled).
You can schedule Alexa to enter Do Not Disturb mode at the times when your kid is sleeping or doing homework. To do so, go to Settings and Device Settings, select your device, select Do Not Disturb, and toggle the feature on. Then, toggle “Scheduled,” and input the times when you’d like Do Not Disturb to start and end.
This schedule will repeat daily until you turn it off. MORE: For more Alexa-related tips, tricks, and how-tos, check out our complete guide to Alexa,
- 42 Best Alexa Skills
- 10 Coolest Things the Echo Show Can Do
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Monica Chin is a writer at The Verge, covering computers. Previously, she was a staff writer for Tom’s Guide, where she wrote about everything from artificial intelligence to social media and the internet of things to.