What the light colors on your Amazon Echo’s ring mean

Alexa constantly updates which bring newer light colors, keeping up to date with this can be frustrating, but this is my own little ‘notes’ blog post on what each of the 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.

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 which match this, so we’ll need to hone in a little more on this.

If it’s alternating between a blue and cyan/light blue it means it is responding to your command.
If it’s a solid blue and there is a cyan/light blue spinning inside, it means that Alexa is processing a request. This is when you’re sending data to and from their servers. The response time on this can change based on your internet speeds.
If you say your wake word (“Alexa”, “Echo”, “Amazon” and “Computer”), it will turn to a solid blue with a slightly small chunk of cyan/light blue in the direction it believes you are.

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.

Spinning Orange – This means your device is trying to connect to the Network, whether it’s your local connection or the Amazon Connection.
Pulsing Violet – This means there is an issue with your local Wi-Fi setup on the device, try running through the configuration in the app again.
Spinning Blue with a Purple flash – This means you’re in Do Not Disturb, simply ask Alexa to turn this off or restart the device.
Purple Flash – An Alexa response which means you’re interacting whilst in Do Not Disturb mode.
Continuous Spinning White Light – Alexa Guard is on in the “Away Setting”.

How to turn off Alexa Echo light ring

If for one reason you would like to turn off the 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:

Open the Alexa App on your phone.
Open the menu and press “Settings”.
Select “Notifications” and then select “Amazon Shopping”.
You can now toggle off the delivery notifications to stop people from sneaking in and listening to their incoming presents!

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.

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