Alexa is a really convenient device that allows us to manage our smart home technology as well as get a bunch of other convenient features, but it can be a little tiring with all of these suggestions.
Alexa keeps making suggestions because this is a way for Amazon to generate additional ad revenue. You can lower the frequency of these suggestions by heading to the notifications menu, finding the Amazon Shopping menu, and turning off the “receive personalized recommendations” setting. You can also turn off the “Things to Try” feature to limit other suggestions from Alexa.
Turning off the suggestions on Alexa is more complicated than it looks. It might not be as easy as some people think to fully get rid of the suggestions on Alexa.
| Reasons for Alexa Suggestions | How to Manage Them |
|---|---|
| Designed for Advertising | Turn off “Receive personalized recommendations” in Amazon Shopping menu |
| Amazon Revenue Generation | Turn off “Things to Try” feature in Notifications menu |
| Inability to Fully Turn Off Settings | Enable “Brief Mode” for shorter responses |
| Accidental Wake Word Recognition | Create a custom wake word to reduce false positives |
Table of Contents
Why Does Alexa Keep Making Suggestions?
Your Alexa device will continue to make suggestions for a variety of different reasons. We’re going to look at the technical side of things as well as why Alexa makes suggestions in the first place.
The Settings Responsible For Suggestions (And Why They Don’t Always Turn Off)
If you’ve had an Alexa device for any amount of time, you know that Alexa loves talking. This can be pretty useful, but it can also be a little distracting. This is especially the case when Alexa makes suggestions for products that you can buy.
The first setting to turn off is in Settings > Notifications > Amazon Shopping.
You’ll see an option to turn off “receive personalized recommendations and deals based on your shopping activity.” Turn this setting off and Alexa will suggest fewer products.
Next you can try to turn off the “Things to Try” feature. This turns off Alexa’s hints and tips that come after your voice commands. This is also in the Notifications menu under “Things to Try.”
Then you can make a few tweeks to Alexa to have fewer voice responses to your commands. The best thing to do is to turn on “Brief Mode” which replaces voice confirmation with a quick tone.
You can’t entirely turn off Alexa suggestions and this is because Amazon has designed Alexa with advertising in mind.
Amazon Wants To Sell Ads
Amazon makes a lot of its money off of its ability to sell advertising to corporations. Alexa is one of the most powerful advertising tools that Amazon has.
Even with all of the above features turned off, you still got some suggestions coming through your Amazon Alexa device.
This is simply how Amazon wants Alexa to work. It’s not only a smart home device, but it’s also a way for Amazon to advertise products and services for companies that pay for the ad space.
Read more: Why does Alexa keep cutting out when playing music?
How To Get Alexa To Stop Making Suggestions?
You can’t entirely stop Alexa from making suggestions, but you can cut down the amount or suggestions by changing a few settings.
The first thing you want to do is head to the notifications menu and then turn off the “Things to Try” feature.
After that, head back to the notifications menu, find the Amazon Shopping menu, and turn off the “receive personalized recommendations” setting.
Turning off these features will reduce the amount of suggestions that Alexa sends.
Read more: Can I make a custom wake word for Alexa?
How Do I Get Rid Of Alexa Suggestions On Echo Show?
Turning off suggestions on the Amazon Echo Show starts with heading to the Notifications menu.
There you’ll be able to turn off these “Things to Try” and turn off the “received personalized recommendation” setting in the Amazon Shopping menu.
You should also head to the Home Content settings and disable the Discovery option to get rid of the Alexa suggestion bar.
How Do I Stop Alexa From Random Announcements?
Alexa actually doesn’t make random announcements, but this is a glitch related to how Alexa recognizes wake words.
Alexa might seem like it’s making random announcements, but it’s actually just waking up and responding to sounds the microphone is picking up that is accidentally interpreting as a wake word.
You can fix this by going to your settings menu and creating a custom wake word that will lower these false positives.
