On March 28, ahead of its Alexa+ rollout, Amazon will get rid of the “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” setting on Echo devices that let people store voice recordings locally.

Amazon Echo users will no longer have the option to process their Alexa requests locally, which means all of their voice recordings will be sent to the

Amazon on Wednesday unveiled the first major overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant since its introduction more than a decade ago, embedding it with generative artificial intelligence.

If you own an Echo smart speaker, it will soon lose a key privacy feature — and be replaced with cloud processing of all voice commands.

Amazon is discontinuing a feature that allowed users of some of its Echo smart speakers to choose not to send their voice recordings to the cloud. According to an email the company sent to users that was posted on Reddit, it will disable the feature that allowed select Echos to process Alexa requests locally on the device on March 28th, 2025.

Amazon has informed Echo users that they can no longer process Alexa requests locally. Voice recordings are stored in the cloud by default.

Last month Amazon introduced Alexa+ which uses generative AI to offer an enhanced version of Amazon’s voice assistant software. It will do a better job of engaging in natural-sounding conversations, remembering things you’ve told it in the past, and have the ability to interact with other apps and services on your behalf.

The move is seen as connected to the launch of its generative AI-powered Alexa Plus, which is slated to be released later this month

Amazon Echo models that were previously able to process Alexa requests locally will no longer do so, instead sending those voice recordings to the cloud. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the change to The Verge after a Reddit user posted a PSA about it on Friday,

All voice recordings of commands or queries given to Amazon voice assistant Alexa on the company’s Echo devices will go to the Amazon cloud starting March 28.