I've had a Fire TV Stick for about a couple years now. I've never used Alexa. Now I'm suddenly seeing messages on-screen (full-screen overlay darkens the screen a little and puts a one-line message at the bottom) prompting me to use Alexa. I have no need for or desire to use Alexa. These constant messages are annoying and intrusive.
I've had a Fire TV Stick for about a couple years now. I've never used Alexa. Now I'm suddenly seeing messages on-screen (full-screen overlay darkens the screen a little and puts a one-line message at the bottom) prompting me to use Alexa. I have no need for or desire to use Alexa. These constant messages are annoying and intrusive.
Is there some way I can turn them off?
Thanks.
Hi Mister_B,
I usually hear them over my Echo, but let's see if some of these settings don't do the trick:
Alexa Notifications
Alexa provides notifications about supported features, like shopping.
You can use the Alexa app to turn notifications on and off on compatible Echo devices:
Go to the menu and select Settings.
Select Notifications.
To view notification options, select a feature.
Use the toggle to turn Notifications on or off.
You can also use the Alexa app to turn notifications on or off for selected skills:
Note: After you complete setup for Alexa Calling and Messaging in the Alexa app, notifications are enabled automatically. To learn more, go to Sign Up for Alexa Communication.
Alexa uses visual and audio prompts on your device to let you know when you have a new notification:
On Echo devices - The device chimes and the light indicator pulses yellow.
On Echo devices with a screen - A notifications banner displays at the top of the device screen. You can also access notifications from the Notifications card on the home screen.
Tip: Sound for notifications is turned on by default. You can manage your preferences for notification sounds in the Alexa app:
Select the Devices icon .
Select your device.
Select Sounds, and then go to the Notifications section.
Select Notifications and then None to turn off notification sounds.
Let us know if this stopped the messages! Also, welcome to the digital and device forums! Usually a peer or fellow customer has an amazing answer on here for any and all kinds of issues, so you're certainly in the right place for advice and guidance!
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Tried as much of that as was applicable--had no effect. These aren't really notifications anyway. The only thing that looks like it might get rid of these [not at all] "helpful" hints is to reset the device to factory defaults and start over.
Maybe these instructions are more suited to your issue:
Step 1. Click ‘Settings’ To start, to go to your home screen and there you have to choose ‘Settings’. In the settings you will see the option ‘Notifications’. Step 2. Click ‘Preferences’ In the ‘Settings’ option, you should see an option with the name ‘Preferences’ click on it. This is where you will be able to change the notification settings of all the applications on your Fire TV. Step 3. Click on ‘Notification Settings’ The next step is to click on ‘Notification Settings’. Here, you will see a few options that will help you block app notifications. Step 4. Toggle ‘Do Not Interrupt’ to Off ‘Do Not Interrupt’ is the first option in ‘Notification Settings’. Toggle it ‘Off’ to turn off pop up notification from all the applications. Step 5. Click on ‘App Notifications’ Click on ‘App Notifications’ to see a list of all the applications that you have currently installed. Step 6. ‘Toggle Off’ on Your Chosen Application Now, you can click on every application and ‘Toggle Off’ the notifications individually for each one of them.
Let me know if this is more suited to what you're seeing. Thanks so much!
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Maybe these instructions are more suited to your issue:
....
Let me know if this is more suited to what you're seeing. Thanks so much!
Thanks, I did those earlier--no change. Whatever this is with Alexa, it doesn't seem to be part of Settings; looks like it's something built-in that was there all along and activated somehow recently or part of some recent update.
Maybe there's a voice command? ...like: "Alexa, stop harassing me!"
This issue just started for me on Friday (May 3), and I have to admit it's driving me nuts - - to the point that I'll dump Amazon devices for streaming if they don't reverse this trash update, specifically the rolling out of unwanted features that leaves users with no way to manage them (i.e. turn them off). The biggest problem I have with the issue is the screen brightness cycling up and down every 8-10 seconds, not the onscreen 'hints' themselves.
I've tried all the notification settings available on the Fire Stick and nothing helps, so really my comment here is a general query of what is the best way to engage Amazon productively so that they fix this nonsense, since "customer support" seems designed to greatly limit direct/traceable queries or any level of accountability.
As a Prime user and Fire Tv user too I understand your frustration for real. There are two ways to contact Amazon you can leave feedback here or you can indeed contact Customer Service and file a feedback complaint there as well. We do track and report certain issues here in the forums and I will report any updates or changes to this issue here on this thread. Especially since it holds personal interest for me as well!
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Go Getter. Trend Setter. Net Jetter. Credit Debter. Eddie Vedder. Never Better. Crooked Letter. Llama Petter.
Just a warning/update: The issues with the Fire Stick update appear to be more than just the screen notices and alternating brightness. I've also noticed the Fire (Alexa) remote was first reported to have a very low battery. When I put fresh batteries in, the remote would not pair reliably with the Fire stick and I'm having ongoing problems with the Fire stick falsely reporting the remote as either "offline" or "low battery" conditions. I actually have to use my TV remote to navigate to the device settings for the remote, and that appears to trigger the pairing.
Overall seems like a flaky update - - I've been corresponding with Amazon customer service, and reported the latest observations. Waiting to hear back, but adding to these observations would be appreciated if others are having similar issues.
I hope they roll back this annoying behavior ASAP as I will definitely not put up with this for long. Adding annoying "features" that I can't disable is why I dumped Netflix. I am about there already with Amazon due to not being able to stop autoplay on "what's on now" and also not having control of what is on my home screen, not being able to delete CBS All Access etc.
Settings -> Preferences -> Featured Content -> Allow Video Autoplay: OFF
Thank you, but I already have that set. Unfortunately, that only works on Featured Content. For instance, it does not work for the live TV sources strip entitled: "On Now". It is really annoying. You have music playing, want to browse to see if something is on. When you get to the On Now strip it stops the music and autoplays some show you are not interested in.
On a side note, my FireStick 4K got an update this morning, however, it did not take care of the Alexa prompts screen darkening issue.
This is some sort of feature we're supposed to like! I wasted an hour in chat with multiple guys getting transferred around. Last guy had me unregister the device and then register it again (no difference) and then insisted a factory reset would cure the problem. I refused when he couldn't explain why it's happening on two different Fire Sticks. They then called me on the phone and the rep told me it's doing the same thing on the TV in her office, so it was part of an update. She thanked me for my feedback and said she would forward my displeasure over the update.
Most likely the same person who came up with the automatic playing trailers while browsing featured content a few months back, even if you had the settings for that feature turned off. Fortunately a later update did away with the problem...that forced garbage is the main reason I canceled Netflix and went strictly with Prime.
It's hard to believe an idiot came up with the idea of pop ups every 5 seconds followed by dimming the screen....and then a whole boardroom full of morons approved it.
New update today and the annoyance is gone! Good job Amazon, now finish the job by letting go of the person(s) who thought it was a good idea to begin with.
The overlay is back. The idle time before it shows up is longer, so there's a better chance you won't see it; still, it's a useless "feature" at best.
Perhaps associated with this overlay, this other problem has occurred once so far: sitting on the Home screen, try to navigate to the right, the Home stays there as an overlay as the other screens move below it--obscured by the Home "overlay". Had to do a restart to get rid of it. Happen to anyone else?
I know this post is a couple months old but the Alexa nag-ware was driving me nuts ever since I got a couple Echo Shows on prime day and just picked up a Fire 8HD. But I think I've got it nailed down and put away forever.
Open the Alexa app on your phone
Click on the half-eaten hamburger icon in the top left
Click on Notifications
Click on Things To Try and disable both of them
I'd also turn off Alexa from listening to your conversations but up to you.
Click on Alexa Privacy
Click on "Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa" and disable all that cr@p :)
Hope this helps someone alleviate some of the frustrations I went through.
***UPDATE*** It went away for about an hour but then came back. In short, I'm still trying to find a solution to get rid of the Alexa Nag-Ware.
In short, I'm still trying to find a solution to get rid of the Alexa Nag-Ware.
I'll share my solution. Take a hammer, smash all your Amazon devices and go buy MiBoxes.
Ok I'm not going to smash them, but I will NEVER buy another one and as they need replacing, I plan on getting REAL Android TV based devices. Between all the ads on the Fire TV Home screen trying to sell me more apps, channels, and subscriptions; and now the constant nags pestering me to use Alexa, it just isn't worth the hassle to use Amazon Ad TV ... err ... Fire TV devices anymore. Amazon has just become too intrusive. I have an NVidia Shield on one TV and I love the Android TV based interface. It is clean, customizable, and non-intrusive. The Shield is just too much to put on every TV in the house so I am thinking the MiBox would fit the bill at just above the cost of the new gen Fire TV's. The only way I would continue to buy Fire TV boxes is if I can find a way to jailbreak them and load real Android TV instead of the bloated nagware they ship with.
Ironically my Shield is connected to a Toshiba TV with Fire TV OS built in, but I never even bothered to connect it to the internet b/c of all this nonsense Amazon is pulling. I hooked up my Shield and could not be happier.
I've had a Fire TV Stick for about a couple years now. I've never used Alexa. Now I'm suddenly seeing messages on-screen (full-screen overlay darkens the screen a little and puts a one-line message at the bottom) prompting me to use Alexa. I have no need for or desire to use Alexa. These constant messages are annoying and intrusive.
Is there some way I can turn them off?
Thanks.
Hi Mister_B,
I usually hear them over my Echo, but let's see if some of these settings don't do the trick:
Alexa Notifications
Alexa provides notifications about supported features, like shopping.
You can use the Alexa app to turn notifications on and off on compatible Echo devices:
You can also use the Alexa app to turn notifications on or off for selected skills:
To learn more about skill notifications, go to Manage Your Alexa Skill Notifications.
Note: After you complete setup for Alexa Calling and Messaging in the Alexa app, notifications are enabled automatically. To learn more, go to Sign Up for Alexa Communication.
Alexa uses visual and audio prompts on your device to let you know when you have a new notification:
Let us know if this stopped the messages! Also, welcome to the digital and device forums! Usually a peer or fellow customer has an amazing answer on here for any and all kinds of issues, so you're certainly in the right place for advice and guidance!
Go Getter. Trend Setter. Net Jetter. Credit Debter. Eddie Vedder. Never Better. Crooked Letter. Llama Petter.
Tried as much of that as was applicable--had no effect. These aren't really notifications anyway. The only thing that looks like it might get rid of these [not at all] "helpful" hints is to reset the device to factory defaults and start over.
Hey Mister_B,
Maybe these instructions are more suited to your issue:
Step 1. Click ‘Settings’
To start, to go to your home screen and there you have to choose ‘Settings’. In the settings you will see the option ‘Notifications’.
Step 2. Click ‘Preferences’
In the ‘Settings’ option, you should see an option with the name ‘Preferences’ click on it. This is where you will be able to change the notification settings of all the applications on your Fire TV.
Step 3. Click on ‘Notification Settings’
The next step is to click on ‘Notification Settings’. Here, you will see a few options that will help you block app notifications.
Step 4. Toggle ‘Do Not Interrupt’ to Off
‘Do Not Interrupt’ is the first option in ‘Notification Settings’. Toggle it ‘Off’ to turn off pop up notification from all the applications.
Step 5. Click on ‘App Notifications’
Click on ‘App Notifications’ to see a list of all the applications that you have currently installed.
Step 6. ‘Toggle Off’ on Your Chosen Application
Now, you can click on every application and ‘Toggle Off’ the notifications individually for each one of them.
Let me know if this is more suited to what you're seeing. Thanks so much!
Go Getter. Trend Setter. Net Jetter. Credit Debter. Eddie Vedder. Never Better. Crooked Letter. Llama Petter.
Same complaint as op, nag messages about every 8 secs to use Alexa.
Seems to ignore notifications settings.
Also Alexa does not show up as an App that has notification settings.
It only seems to be on Home page.
If I move selection on Home screen, it goes away and reappears in about 8 secs.
Remind me something once, okay, but blasting it at me every 8 secs is pointless.
Try "Alexa, show me comedy movies" , etc.... So very stupid!
edit: wrong it is happening on all pages...
Thanks, I did those earlier--no change. Whatever this is with Alexa, it doesn't seem to be part of Settings; looks like it's something built-in that was there all along and activated somehow recently or part of some recent update.
Maybe there's a voice command? ...like: "Alexa, stop harassing me!"
This issue just started for me on Friday (May 3), and I have to admit it's driving me nuts - - to the point that I'll dump Amazon devices for streaming if they don't reverse this trash update, specifically the rolling out of unwanted features that leaves users with no way to manage them (i.e. turn them off). The biggest problem I have with the issue is the screen brightness cycling up and down every 8-10 seconds, not the onscreen 'hints' themselves.
I've tried all the notification settings available on the Fire Stick and nothing helps, so really my comment here is a general query of what is the best way to engage Amazon productively so that they fix this nonsense, since "customer support" seems designed to greatly limit direct/traceable queries or any level of accountability.
HI Greg5000,
As a Prime user and Fire Tv user too I understand your frustration for real. There are two ways to contact Amazon you can leave feedback here or you can indeed contact Customer Service and file a feedback complaint there as well. We do track and report certain issues here in the forums and I will report any updates or changes to this issue here on this thread. Especially since it holds personal interest for me as well!
Go Getter. Trend Setter. Net Jetter. Credit Debter. Eddie Vedder. Never Better. Crooked Letter. Llama Petter.
My mom had this EXACT problem.
After the 40 second hard restart, it reappeared until she said... "Alexa. Exit."
Alexa released he grip on the tablet and is now working perfectly. Will post again if it reappears.
Excellent tip - thanks!
Just a warning/update: The issues with the Fire Stick update appear to be more than just the screen notices and alternating brightness. I've also noticed the Fire (Alexa) remote was first reported to have a very low battery. When I put fresh batteries in, the remote would not pair reliably with the Fire stick and I'm having ongoing problems with the Fire stick falsely reporting the remote as either "offline" or "low battery" conditions. I actually have to use my TV remote to navigate to the device settings for the remote, and that appears to trigger the pairing.
Overall seems like a flaky update - - I've been corresponding with Amazon customer service, and reported the latest observations. Waiting to hear back, but adding to these observations would be appreciated if others are having similar issues.
I hope they roll back this annoying behavior ASAP as I will definitely not put up with this for long. Adding annoying "features" that I can't disable is why I dumped Netflix. I am about there already with Amazon due to not being able to stop autoplay on "what's on now" and also not having control of what is on my home screen, not being able to delete CBS All Access etc.
Settings -> Preferences -> Featured Content -> Allow Video Autoplay: OFF
Thank you, but I already have that set. Unfortunately, that only works on Featured Content. For instance, it does not work for the live TV sources strip entitled: "On Now". It is really annoying. You have music playing, want to browse to see if something is on. When you get to the On Now strip it stops the music and autoplays some show you are not interested in.
On a side note, my FireStick 4K got an update this morning, however, it did not take care of the Alexa prompts screen darkening issue.
This is some sort of feature we're supposed to like! I wasted an hour in chat with multiple guys getting transferred around. Last guy had me unregister the device and then register it again (no difference) and then insisted a factory reset would cure the problem. I refused when he couldn't explain why it's happening on two different Fire Sticks. They then called me on the phone and the rep told me it's doing the same thing on the TV in her office, so it was part of an update. She thanked me for my feedback and said she would forward my displeasure over the update.
Most likely the same person who came up with the automatic playing trailers while browsing featured content a few months back, even if you had the settings for that feature turned off. Fortunately a later update did away with the problem...that forced garbage is the main reason I canceled Netflix and went strictly with Prime.
It's hard to believe an idiot came up with the idea of pop ups every 5 seconds followed by dimming the screen....and then a whole boardroom full of morons approved it.
New update today and the annoyance is gone! Good job Amazon, now finish the job by letting go of the person(s) who thought it was a good idea to begin with.
The overlay is back. The idle time before it shows up is longer, so there's a better chance you won't see it; still, it's a useless "feature" at best.
Perhaps associated with this overlay, this other problem has occurred once so far: sitting on the Home screen, try to navigate to the right, the Home stays there as an overlay as the other screens move below it--obscured by the Home "overlay". Had to do a restart to get rid of it. Happen to anyone else?
I know this post is a couple months old but the Alexa nag-ware was driving me nuts ever since I got a couple Echo Shows on prime day and just picked up a Fire 8HD. But I think I've got it nailed down and put away forever.
I'd also turn off Alexa from listening to your conversations but up to you.
Hope this helps someone alleviate some of the frustrations I went through.
***UPDATE*** It went away for about an hour but then came back. In short, I'm still trying to find a solution to get rid of the Alexa Nag-Ware.
I'll share my solution. Take a hammer, smash all your Amazon devices and go buy MiBoxes.
Ok I'm not going to smash them, but I will NEVER buy another one and as they need replacing, I plan on getting REAL Android TV based devices. Between all the ads on the Fire TV Home screen trying to sell me more apps, channels, and subscriptions; and now the constant nags pestering me to use Alexa, it just isn't worth the hassle to use Amazon Ad TV ... err ... Fire TV devices anymore. Amazon has just become too intrusive. I have an NVidia Shield on one TV and I love the Android TV based interface. It is clean, customizable, and non-intrusive. The Shield is just too much to put on every TV in the house so I am thinking the MiBox would fit the bill at just above the cost of the new gen Fire TV's. The only way I would continue to buy Fire TV boxes is if I can find a way to jailbreak them and load real Android TV instead of the bloated nagware they ship with.
Ironically my Shield is connected to a Toshiba TV with Fire TV OS built in, but I never even bothered to connect it to the internet b/c of all this nonsense Amazon is pulling. I hooked up my Shield and could not be happier.