How to use Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant without privacy risks
Voice assistants are useful — set timers, ask questions, control music, all hands-free. But they listen to your home, and the default settings often share more than necessary. Here's how to keep what's useful and limit what's not.
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Understand which assistant is on which device
Siri lives on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Alexa lives on Amazon Echo speakers. Google Assistant lives on Google Home / Nest speakers and most Android phones. Each has its own privacy settings.
Three of the most common voice assistants. -
On iPhone: Open Settings → Siri
Tap Settings, then "Siri." Make sure you have a microphone icon — that means Siri is on. Review the settings here.
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On iPhone: Turn off "Listen for Hey Siri" if you don't use it
If you never say "Hey Siri" to wake the assistant (you just press the side button), turn this off. The phone will stop listening continuously, which both saves battery and reduces accidental activations.
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On iPhone: Delete Siri history
In Settings → Siri & Search, tap "Siri & Dictation History" and then "Delete Siri & Dictation History." This removes recordings of your past questions from Apple's servers.
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On Alexa (Amazon Echo): Open the Alexa app
Open the Alexa app on your phone. Tap "More" in the bottom-right, then "Settings."
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On Alexa: Set automatic deletion
Tap "Alexa Privacy," then "Manage Your Alexa Data." Set "Automatically delete recordings" to "3 months" or "30 days." This stops Amazon from keeping a permanent record of every command.
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On Alexa: Turn off "Help improve Alexa"
In the same Alexa Privacy menu, turn off "Use of voice recordings" and "Use of messages" to stop your voice clips from being used to train Amazon's systems.
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On Google Assistant: Open the Google app
Open the Google app on your phone, tap your profile picture in the top-right, then "Settings" → "Google Assistant" → "Your data in the Assistant."
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On Google: Turn on auto-delete
Set "Auto-delete" to "3 months" or "18 months." Google will automatically delete recordings older than that.