What does the light color on your Amazon Echo ring mean

By Bradly Spicer •  Updated: 12/25/22 •  5 min read

Alexa constantly updates which bring newer light colors, keeping up to date with this can be frustrating, but this guide should be perfect for what you need to maintain your Alexa controlled Smart Home.

What does the color ring on Alexa mean?

The light rings can pulse, flash and circle, each one with its own meaning and status. Before we start, it’s worth noting Alexa is always listening to you, even when the blue light is off.

But this doesn’t send every bit of information to Amazon as this would be too much data. If the light is off and the device is plugged in, it’s simply waiting on a response from yourself.

 

Can I change the Alexa Ring Color?

No, you cannot change your Amazon Alexa’s Ring color, however, if you have an Alexa Glow, you can follow this steps to change the light color:

  1. Open your Alexa App
  2. Tap Devices
  3. Tap Lights
  4. Select Echo Glow
  5. Select “Color”
  6. Change the color to your desired preference and close the app.

Please note, this doesn’t change the colors of the lights in debugging or when they’re doing an action.

If you have a store demo 1st gen echo, you can actually change the echo lights to be rainbow based. However, this is only in admin / debug mode.

 

Why is Alexa flashing Green/Yellow?

Alexa has the ability to send messages and make calls, as such, there are two new colors available for your Alexa device; Green and Yellow. If you see a pulsing green light, it means there is an incoming call. If it’s a spinning green light, it means the device is currently mid-call or in an active session.

A pulsing yellow light means you have a new message in your inbox, we often get this in our home when we order something from Amazon and have it delivered and tracked via Amazon Prime.

It’s a pretty useful reminder given all the orders we make!

Why is Alexa flashing Red?

Alexa Red Ring Fix

This is quite a simple one, there is nothing to fix as such, it simply means you’ve turned off the microphone (And camera if you’re using the right type of device). You should be able to re-enable this by pressing the microphone button on the device.

If your Alexa device is Orange and is an Amazon Show, this will indicate a network connectivity issue. Check your internet connection and if this is fine, give it some time as it may be due to the Amazon Servers.

 

Why is Alexa flashing Blue?

There are a few Alexa patterns that match this, so we’ll need to hone in a little more on this.

 

Other Alexa Light Ring colors

This is a more generic response as it fits across multiple Alexa devices, this can be purple, orange and various flashes between.

 

How to turn off Alexa Echo light ring

If for one reason you would like to turn off the Amazon echo light ring, possibly due to Christmas orders and presents coming through Amazon, you simply need to follow the steps below for each type of notification.

 

Turn off the Yellow Ring Notifications on the Amazon Echo

The yellow ring notification could be a personal message or delivery notice, so turning these off may be important depending on your living environment.

If you listen to the message, the ring will go away, however, you can toggle off the out for delivery or delivered notifications by doing the following:

 

How do I stop Alexa saying just the delivery item?

Want to keep the notifications but hide the item names? Luckily, Amazon has prepared for this. When asking “Alexa, where’s my stuff”, it will normally say the item title and the date, but with the steps below, it will only tell you the delivery dates. PERFECT.

  1. Open the Alexa App on your phone.
  2. Open the main menu and tap “Settings”
  3. As per the prior steps, select “Notifications” and then “Amazon Shopping”.
  4. There is a toggle for “Give Ordered Items’ Titles”, turn this off and it won’t then tell you the item name on delivery.

And there you have it, a full breakdown on the Amazon echo light, what do you think? Got any questions? Let us know!

Bradly Spicer

I'm a Smart Home and IT Enthusiast that loves to check out new technology and gadgets! I enjoy reading your experiences and news, so if you want to share anything or chat smart homes, definitely send me an email!