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Amazon Echo Devices are extremely useful but many users have found their devices suddenly making noises on their own in the middle of the night. This is understandably concerning and annoying as users do not want to be woken up nightly for unknown reasons.
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8 Causes to Alexa Making Noise At Night On Its Own
Below is a list of 8 potential causes and multiple ways to fix the issue so you can get a good night’s sleep without Alexa interrupting.
1. The Alexa Has A Routine Currently Turned On
An enabled volume change routine is one of the most common causes behind Alexa devices making noises during the night. The volume change routine is used with the alarm settings and lets users change the alarm sound.
Alexa devices typically have the volume adjustment routine set at 3 AM. However, this will cause the device to beep at that time. Not many users know about this default setting and are thus commonly woken up by this volume change routine notification.
2. Sounds Similar To The Device’s Wake Word Are Heard
Echo Devices are known for their voice activation, which while greatly convenient, can cause the device to trigger at undesired times.
Noises and sounds similar to the device’s wake word could potentially wake the device up and cause it to beep at night.
The sound similar to the device’s wake word could come from someone else in the house making noise or maybe a TV show you forgot to turn off.
Anything that sounds like a wake word or a voice command will cause the device to beep in response.
3. Your Alexa Is Trying To Alert You Of New Notifications
Alexa can connect to your phone and forward notifications for unread texts, new emails, or incoming calls so you do not have to constantly look at your phone. This is a convenient feature but can cause your Echo Device to make noise at night.
Your Alexa will make noise and light up when receiving texts, emails, or calls, which although perfectly normal for the device, can be annoying when you are trying to sleep.
As long as a device is paired to your Alexa, notifications will come through and make noise.
4. You May Have An Undeleted Alarm Or Reminder Set
Your Echo Device allows you to set alarms and reminders for various needs. However, if you forget to turn off or remove the alarm, it may go off at unexpected times.
Your device will not automatically forget alarms or reminders and will not prompt you about them, which can cause them to continuously pop up unexpectedly.
For example, if you set an alarm at 3 AM a week ago for an early morning flight you needed to catch, your Alexa will not remove the alarm for you. This means that once you are home and sleeping normally, the 3 AM alarm will still go off and make noise.
5. The Alexa’s Battery Is Low
Alexa requires regular charging, much like a cell phone. If you forget to charge your Alexa, it will eventually drain the battery. Once the battery is low, your Alexa will emit a beeping noise in an attempt to alert you of the low battery.
The goal of this feature is to let users know that their device’s battery is running low so they can plug it in before the device goes completely dead. However, it can be inconvenient if this alert goes off in the middle of the night, even if it is a totally normal function for the device.
6. Your Device Is Undergoing Updates
One of the many conveniences of owning an Echo Device is that it will typically install updates for its operating systems and applications automatically. However, these updates often cause the device to make noise, even at night.
It is normal for your Alexa to make noise while it is completing an update, but it can be annoying when these updates just so happen to occur late at night. These noises can also occur if your device is experiencing an issue completing an update.
7. Your Alexa May Have A Failed Internet Connection
Your Alexa does need Wi-Fi and a good internet connection to function properly. This means that if your Wi-Fi goes down in the middle of the night, your Alexa will try to notify you of this issue by making a beeping noise.
Granted, there is little you can do if your Wi-Fi coincidentally goes down while you happen to be sleeping. However, your Alexa making noise due to this is a normal function. It is just the device’s way of telling you that there is an internet connection issue.
8. “Brief” Mode Is Enabled
Although Alexa is typically activated using a wake word and a voice command, there is a mode on your device that allows it to respond to sounds instead.
This mode is called “Brief” Mode. Your Alexa can respond to random noises, including ambient sounds, when enabled.
Much like its response to voice commands or its wake word, your Alexa will beep in response to let you know that it is activated and is awaiting a command.
However, if you are sleeping and a random noise happens to trigger the device, it will beep regardless.
Potential Fixes
The best way to fix an Alexa that is making noise at night is to check the device’s settings. This can help eliminate many potential causes, including the time set for the volume change routine, forgotten alarms or reminders, and if “Brief” Mode is turned on.
If none of those issues are the cause, you can look into your device’s set wake word. One useful tool is your device’s history which will show a recent list of things that caused the device to activate.
If it shows that your wake word is pinging the device, you can change the wake word in the settings to another word.
Noises caused by notifications or other sounds from a paired device, like a cellphone or Bluetooth device, can be disabled by either muting the microphone of your Alexa or disconnecting any Bluetooth devices before bed. This can prevent the device from making noises due to notifications or calls.
Alexa also has a Do Not Disturb setting that can be turned on before bed. This setting stops the device from making sounds due to the texts, emails, and calls.
You can ask Alexa to enable this by saying “Alexa, turn on Do Not Disturb” and turn it off in the morning by saying “Alexa, turn off Do Not Disturb”.
If you wish to deactivate communication pings completely, you can go to your app and select which device to apply this to.
Click “Communications” in the General settings to see various options to disable, including Announcements, Drop-In, or All Communications. Individual types of notifications can also be disabled by going to the Notifications sections of Settings in the app.
If all else fails, contact Amazon Echo Device support directly. They can help you review potential causes, troubleshoot the issue, and maybe offer solutions you did not know about or have not tried yet.
Conclusion
It can be annoying or confusing when your Alexa makes noises during the night. Thankfully, the majority of the time this issue is caused by something within your device’s settings itself. The best way to solve the problem is to check for forgotten routines, alarms, and enabled modes.