Last month my 9-year-old daughter came downstairs and said, ‘Mummy, those colouring pencils you ordered for me are arriving today.’ Great, I thought, before she added: ‘My Alexa told me.’ And then a little bit of panic swept over me.
It turns out that everything I order on Amazon – from Lego sets for their friend’s birthday, to books and pictures hooks – gets announced to both my daughters on the Alexa Echos they each have on their bedside tables. I didn't realise that every single time I buy something on Amazon Prime – which is a lot – the girl’s Alexa announces to them when my package will be arriving and what’s inside. Which of course makes buying their Christmas presents this month a little trickier.
Thankfully, there’s a quick hack that stops Alexa from announcing your deliveries over the coming months, and potentially spoiling Christmas morning. First of all, download and open the Alexa app on your phone. Tap ‘More’, which is in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. Click ‘Settings’, ‘Notifications’ and ‘Amazon Shopping’. Under the section titled ‘Say or show item titles’, turn off ‘For item in delivery updates’. For extra protection, under the Delivery Notifications section, turn off ‘Out for delivery’ and turn off ‘Order updates’ under the Order Updates section.
Don’t forget to do this on all the phones in your house with the Amazon and Alexa app on them. Following these steps will turn off Amazon’s shipping notifications on all your devices, and stop Alexa from telling your children when gifts are out for delivery and then notifying them when they’re actually delivered.
Lastly, to check this has worked, ask your Alexa, ‘Alexa, where’s my stuff?’ or ‘Alexa, where’s my order?’ Usually she would say the name of the product you’ve ordered but if you’ve followed the steps above she will only tell you when a package will arrive, without giving any details of what it is. If you want to go back to knowing what you've ordered, you can go back and change all these settings after Christmas is over.
But until then, you can – like me – rest easy, knowing your little ones won’t be finding out from Alexa what’s going to be under the tree on Christmas Day.