Creeped Out By Your Amazon Echo Making Random Noises?

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It’s predicted that in the next couple of decades nearly everyone will own a Smart Home. it comes with many perks, like adjusting your thermostats, appliances, and lights all with the touch of a button. One way to do that is with a controller, which Amazon has thoughtfully provided us with: the Amazon Echo.

This smart home speaker system is efficient, user-friendly, and offers many practical features. You can use it to stream music and podcasts, set alarms and appointments, and a whole lot more!

Although, as with any artificial intelligence, it may suffer the occasional snag. Many users have been creeped out by their Amazon Echo making random noises. It’s understandably frightening, but there’s a perfectly logical explanation.

To put your mind at ease, we’re going to share with you all the possible reasons for the sounds. We’ve also included five troubleshooting tips to fix this problem once and for all.

Let’s get started.

What Is the Difference Between Amazon Echo and Alexa?

Second gen Amazon Echo Dot in listening mode
Second gen Amazon Echo Dot in listening mode

Amazon created both the Echo and Alexa. Yet, people sometimes get confused: are they the same device or two different things?

Here’s the short answer: Amazon Echo is the name of the device and Alexa is the name of the virtual assistant. In other words, Echo is the hardware. It’s where all the speakers, microphones, and other neat features are housed.

Alexa is one of these features. It’s the Voice Assistant designed to recognize your speech patterns. Then, it carries out whatever specific command you ask it to do. For this to happen, Alexa needs two things: a microphone to hear your voice and speakers to answer back.

Today, there are several devices available in the ‘Echo Family.’ If they have a mic and speakers, then they’ll have Alexa integrated into their systems. Some of these include:

  • Echo
  • Echo Dot
  • Echo Dot with clock
  • Echo Show
  • Echo Frames

What Types of Random Noises Does Amazon Echo Make?

How can you not love these smart speakers? Combined with Alexa’s smart intuition, it’s the perfect package. They answer right away, play your favorite music, and always remind you of your appointments.

Nevertheless, it’s sad but true: Alexa isn’t as perfect as we’d hoped. In recent months, Echo devices have been heard making odd beeps and dings at all hours of the day. Some even say they’ve heard laughter coming from their devices.

It sounds so creepy that many users were genuinely spooked out. Some even thought about throwing everything out rather than living with a possessed appliance!

Yet, don’t chuck out hundreds of dollars worth of appliances just yet. First, take a look at some of the possible reasons causing those mysterious noises:

  1. Amazon Echo mistook a background noise for its wake-up word.
  2. The device needs to be recharged.
  3. Alexa is having Internet problems.
  4. The device is in brief mode or whisper mode
  5. Your calls, notifications, and messages are being sent via your device.
  6. The volume settings need to be readjusted.
  7. The ‘Do Not Disturb’ function is toggling on and off.
  8. ‘Alexa error code 7.1.10.12.2’ appears on the log, which means Alexa can’t hear you.
  9. Bluetooth devices can disrupt Echo’s normal activities by causing electronic interference
  10. Possible software bugs in the system

How You Can Stop Amazon Echo from Making Random Noises?

If any of your Amazon Echo is making arbitrary sounds, it can be any of the 10 possibilities we mentioned above. Each can be easily corrected with the help of the following troubleshooting tips.

Ask Alexa

This solution is so obvious, many people don’t even pause for a second to consider it. Think about it. How easy would it be if the device causing you this much anguish would just say what the problem was so you can fix it?

Every time Alexa makes a strange noise, ask her why she did it: “Alexa, why did you just say that”?. Nine times out of 10, she’ll be able to tell you the reasons for whatever sound she just made. The other one time will probably be when the speakers aren’t working, so you won’t be able to get a decent response from her.

Once you get your answer, you can set about getting the problem fixed. It could be something as simple as mistaking a noise in the background for her wake-up word.

Echo devices are programmed to beep in confirmation when they hear their designated wake-up word. It’s like a nod to let you know it’s ready for your command.

So, let’s say you’re watching TV, or talking on the phone and you said the wake-up word mid-sentence. That could trigger Alexa to make random beeps.

The easy thing to do is disable the microphone:

Turning the mic off means Alexa can’t hear you, but all other Echo features will still work.

Your alarms, for example, will ring at their set times. You can also play music on the Echo speakers. You’ll just have to do it via the app since you won’t be able to give Alexa any voice commands. Plus, all your scheduled routines, like lights off or on at certain times, will continue to function normally.

Check to Make Sure You Didn’t Set Any Reminders

Is Alexa making random noises at the same time each day? Then, this could be due to a pre-set daily routine or reminder you’ve just forgotten about.

To confirm whether this is the actual reason, head to your Amazon Alexa application. There, you should be able to see all of your schedules, routines, and reminders at once. (Alternatively, you can ask “Alexa, what reminders do I have?”).

Do you see anything that looks out of the ordinary? If you notice something that doesn’t ring a bell with you, remove it.

Another way to go about it is to ask Alexa what’s on your calendar for today, tomorrow, and the following day. That should be enough to let you know if something is the source of these unexpected noises.

It could also be you’ve set Alexa to receive notifications from sources you’ve forgotten about. Maybe you set the device to notify you when a shipment or delivery is about to arrive, then you forgot about it.

To disable this option, open the app, head to Settings, then Notifications. Then, just adjust the notifications for all your apps.

Restart the Echo Device

The default view of an Amazon Echo Show 8
The default view of an Amazon Echo Show 8

Many people forget that simply restarting their devices is a viable solution. Maybe Alexa can’t hear you properly or something’s lagging in the software. Giving it a chance to restart can be a quick way to fix whatever’s going on.

Remember, you won’t be able to use the voice command to restart Echo. An alternative is to use the Alexa app.

You can also press the Power button for a couple of seconds until the device shuts off. Wait for at least five minutes before turning it back on.

If the problem persists, you should go-ahead to do a factory reset:

We know factory resets are terribly inconvenient. You’ll have to restart voice recognition features and request history. Plus, the Echo will lose all of its other features and skills as well.

That said, this is one of the most reliable go-to options used by software experts. When all else fails, they reset and start from scratch.

Update the Software

Amazon regularly updates its software automatically. It’s designed to work in the background to give you peace of mind and be as hassle-free as possible.

Nevertheless, there are software updates that can cause problems. When this happens, you’ll need to intervene and reset the update feature manually.

Go to the Alexa app on your smartphone. On the software update tab, you can access all the possible updates.

Next, click on the update you want and wait until it’s finished installing. Sometimes the device may prompt you to restart it to get the updates working. Either way, keep an ear out to monitor whether the noises have stopped or not.

Contact Customer Service

If none of the troubleshooting methods we mentioned above work, it’s time to get the cavalry. The problem with your device could be a number of hardware issues.

In fact, hardware failure is one of the most common causes of an Echo’s random beeping. If you suspect it has something to do with hardware, Amazon customer support can help. They’ll be able to tell you whether the device is fixable or if you should replace it.

Avoid opening up the device and trying to repair it yourself. You’ll likely risk voiding the warranty which is the last thing you want to do when your Echo is malfunctioning.

Conclusion

If you’re creeped out by your Amazon Echo making random noises, you’re not alone. Alexa has been known to make some pretty weird noises.

The good news is there are several easy fixes to help you troubleshoot the problem. Try the tips we mentioned above and see which one ends this problem for good. Hopefully, one of them will stop these sounds and your device will go back to running smoothly.

No more eerie laughs at two o’clock in the morning!

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About James Beetie

James - a self-confessed nerd - has owned smart home equipment for close to a decade, and he loves communicating the best ways of setting them up... and resolving the various bugs and issues that you'll no doubt come across!