Tech Guide

Here's what all of the lights on your Amazon Echo mean, and how to turn them off

Key Points
  • The Amazon Echo has a light bar that glows different colors to alert you to specific problems.
  • Here's a guide to what each of those lights means, and how to turn them off when you don't need them.
  • You can also turn on do-not-disturb mode so you don't get notifications at night.
Todd Haselton | CNBC

You may have noticed that your Amazon Echo sometimes has a flashing ring around it. The light might glow yellow, red, orange or green. All of these lights mean something, and sometimes they can be annoying if you have an Echo in your room and you want to sleep while it's flashing.

Here's a quick guide to what each of those lights on your Echo mean, and how to turn them off.

Green light

The green light is used for calls on your Amazon Echo. It spins if you're currently talking to someone, but it also glows as you're placing a call to someone. The light turns off after a call is ended.

Yellow light

The yellow light means Alexa has a status update on your recent Amazon order. If someone has left you a text message using Alexa from a phone or another Echo, your device may also have a yellow ring. To get rid of it, just listen to your messages by saying, "Alexa, play my messages," "Alexa, read my notifications," or "Alexa, what are my notifications?"

Red light

The red light means you've muted the microphone. You can turn it off by tapping the mute button again. Note: When the device is muted and the red light is on, your Echo won't respond to "Alexa."

Orange light

You might see an orange ring pulsing around your Echo from time to time. This happens when it's trying to connect to your Wi-Fi network. You're most likely to see this if you lose internet or power briefly and your Echo needs to reconnect to the network. If it can't connect, it may turn purple.

Purple light

Purple means your Echo wasn't able to properly connect to your Wi-Fi. It's most likely to happen if your internet has gone completely offline. (It may stay orange as it tries to manually reconnect.) You can fix this by opening the Alexa app on your phone and then choosing Settings > Wi-Fi and reconnecting to your Wi-Fi network. Make sure you have the right password!

How to turn them off

Controls are similar to the original Echo. Twist the top to adjust the volume.
Todd Haselton | CNBC

You can manage some of the yellow ring notifications by opening the Alexa app on your phone and choosing notifications, selecting "Amazon Shopping" and removing notifications about packages out for delivery or packages that have been delivered.

To remove other light notifications, like the green one, you can turn on "do not disturb mode." This is good at night if you don't want your Echo waking you up with alerts.

To do this, open the Alexa app on your phone, choose Settings, select Device settings, then pick the Echo you're trying to manage. Tap "do not disturb," and turn it on. Alexa won't bother you with notifications while do not disturb is active. You can also schedule times for "do not disturb."

You'll still see orange, purple or red lights if you lose a network connection or have muted your Echo, but you can turn those off by fixing the connection or turning off mute.

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