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Alexa Randomly Talking at Night – How to Fix It
There is no doubt that Alexa is still at the top among the other smart home assistants available today. Its advanced AI is one of the main reasons it has become such an intelligent home assistant for everyone.
As a smart home assistant that can speak out loudly, it is really important to make it in a way it doesn’t affect the user’s sanity and make him/her freaked out by random talking. However, this is what some of Alexa users experience now.
According to them, Alexa randomly talking at night. This is kinda creepy, and some people even thought the Alexa is haunted (which is actually not)! And to give you an idea of how creepy it can get, one user has reported on a forum that her two Alexas started talking to each other, in the middle of night!
What could possibly be wrong with Alexa talking in the middle of the night? And how can you solve this issue without throwing it out of the window? You will find answers to these questions in this guide.
Why is your Alexa randomly talking at night?
There can be one or a few reasons why your Alexa suddenly starts talking in the middle of the night. The first thing we did as we noticed this issue is doing proper research to find out the causes of this issue. And here are what we found from our research.
- Your Alexa misheard noises around it as the wake word
This is a common and very known issue of Alexa devices (Echo devices). Alexa can mishear noises around it as the wake word. This could happen very often if you placed the Echo device where you speak the most like in a dining room, near the sofa, etc.
There is a similar situation experienced by my friend who has a set of Echo devices in his house. He has changed the wake word to “ziggy” before and his Echo was placed inside his living room. When he played “ziggy” by David Brownie, Alexa heard it as the wake word and then suddenly started listening to that song.
- There is a routine that causes the Alexa to wake up during the night
Did you check the routines that have been set up on your Alexa? It is because sometimes a routine that you may have created before could be the reason why your Alexa randomly starts talking at night. Another thing that could happen is a glitch in a routine that makes Alexa act like this.
- A bug or a glitch within the AI
Although Alexa is a trained, and advanced AI, it doesn’t mean it works perfectly every time. Even a well-programmed application can glitch or be buggy sometimes. So same goes for Alexa as well.
Usually, Amazon issues bug fixes and improvements to Alexa as software updates. If your Echo device is running with an older version of the software, this could be the issue.
- Defective device
If your Echo device acting weirdly ever since you bought it, or if it got dropped, or had an impact on something before the random talking started, the Echo device could be defective. In such a scenario, there is nothing you can do, besides, take the device to the repair center.
Except for the last case, the other three (3) causes are pretty much fixable by yourself. Le’s see how you can do that.
How to fix your Alexa from randomly talking at night
Since this problem is very narrow and only happens during the night. There are a few solutions you can try to troubleshoot this issue and say goodbye to your Alexa’s creepy talking.
Fix 01: Restart your Echo
If you haven’t done yet, you can try restarting your Echo device to fix if there are any temporary glitches within the system. Here is how you can do that.
- Plug off the Echo device from the power source.
- Wait for about 10 minutes
- Then, plug it back into the power source, and turn the device on
Fix 02: Disable unnecessary routines
If you have recently installed/enabled any routine in your Alexa, then there is a higher chance of that could be the reason why your Alexa talks at night without you saying anything. However, even previously set-up routines can be glitched sometimes.
Therefore, you have to disable every unnecessary routine from your Alexa, it is even better if you can sort out routines that are set up to work at night, then remove unwanted ones from the routine list.
Here is how to disable a routine in your Alexa
- Open the Alexa app
- Tap on Routines
- Check the routines and see what routines work at night
- Remove if there is any unwanted routine
Once you do that correctly, your problem should be gone now.
Fix 03: Perform a software update
As we mentioned earlier, software updates can fix various issues you face on Alexa. Therefore, in an attempt to fix this issue, you can update the software of your Echo device. Follow the simple step below.
Say “Alexa, check for software updates”. And the Alexa will start looking for updates. And if there is any, it will automatically install it.
Fix 04: Turn off the microphone at night
This works best if the problem is the noise that makes Alexa wake up and talk randomly. All you have to do is press the microphone off button on your Echo device. You will see a red ring when the microphone is turned off.
When you wake up, just press that button again to turn on the mic.
Fix 05: Enable Do Not Disturb mode
This is not an option to fix this issue. However, enabling do not disturb mode will work to make Alexa silent and let you do your work or sleep peacefully during the night. Since the problem is still there, you have to seek Amazon’s customer support, or check the Echo device and see if it is defective.
To enable the Do Not Disturb mode, just say “Alexa, turn on do not disturb mode”. Then, your Alexa will enable the mode and you can disable it in the morning. In the meantime, contact customer support, or send a ticket to get help directly from the experts of Amazon.
Conclusion
Alexa randomly talking at night is a controversial issue that has a lot of people who use it. Some could argue it is a problem with AI, while others can say it is just temporary and will be fixed by a software update. That said, you should be able to fix this issue by following this guide. If so, share this guide as a support to us.
If you have any questions regarding this guide, leave a comment below.
Have a nice day!
