Stop Alexa Accidentally Ordering Things And Spending Your Money

Amazon’s Alexa is a fantastically useful piece of technology allowing you to ask it questions, control your home and even play music.

It’s also a massive nuisance when it goes wrong.

This was perfectly demonstrated by one customer who found it had accidentally ordered some cat food when it overheard one of Amazon’s own adverts. He then promptly complained to the Advertising Standards Agency (it wasn’t upheld).

Now as anyone who owns an Amazon Echo will know, accidental or mischievous ordering of items is surprisingly commonplace.

A friend or child realises that they have the ability to order anything they want and next thing you know there’s a shipment of 200 Nerf guns flying over the Atlantic bound for your front door with next day delivery.

Thankfully, this is a problem that can easily be solved and it doesn’t involve anything as drastic as unplugging your Echo altogether.

Voice purchasing is actually a completely customisable feature on Alexa, it can be turned on or off. Follow these simple instructions and prepare to be enlightened.

How to turn of ‘Voice Purchasing’ on Alexa:

1. Open the Alexa app on your smartphone, tap on the three bars in the top left-hand corner then tap on Settings.

2. Scroll down until you see Voice Purchasing.

3. Turn Voice Purchasing off OR alternatively you can keep it on but require a 4-digit code be spoken in order to confirm the order.