Although many of us have embraced or are starting to embrace smart speakers in our homes, I have to admit that I find the idea of an always-listening device rather peculiar. It’s not paranoia or a general distrust of the technology; if it were, I would immediately remove the speakers from my apartment. But it is the need to be as aware as possible of when these speakers are listening and when they aren’t, and stop them if they start listening when they shouldn’t.
That’s why one of the first things I do after setting up a new speaker (or resetting an older one) is to enable an audible indicator for when it starts and stops listening. The option, which is hidden under the speaker’s accessibility menu, transforms the experience from a guessing game to a more certain one.