Red, cyan, yellow, blue, purple. Here's what each of Alexa's lights are trying to tell you.
When your Echo lights up with blue and cyan, it means Alexa is listening.
Call out to Alexa and the light on your device turns blue, swirling around as Alexa processes your voice command. You've come to recognize that blue color as a comforting sign that Alexa is listening, but what does it mean when the light blinks yellow or green, or alternates blue and cyan?
No matter if you have an original Amazon Echo smart speaker or one of the many newer Amazon products such as the Echo Dot, the fourth-gen Echo, the Echo Plus, and even in some cases the Echo Show, you have probably noticed your Amazon device flashing a bright color at some point. One of the most unique design characteristics of Amazon's smart gadgets is the light ring -- or in the case of Echo Show smart displays, the light bar. In the simplest explanation, your light ring or light bar serves as a status indicator and a notification light for all kinds of information. This means with each color, Alexa is trying to tell you something.
Most of the time, the light ring stays off. If the device is plugged in and there are no lights showing, it means the speaker is active and waiting for you to speak the wake word. When you interact with Alexa, you will see white and various tones of blue. The light ring will tell you if there are any problems with Alexa, as well. Status indicators are red, purple or orange. Now that Alexa lets you send messages and make calls, Amazon has introduced two new colors for notifications: green and yellow. You can just ask Alexa what the colors on your Echo device mean. Or you can read on to learn more.
When the green light is on, a call is coming in.
When the red light is on, the Alexa microphone has been turned off.
The Echo Show has a handy screen to communicate with users... but it still uses bands of colored light on the bottom of that display.
Unlike the Amazon Echo smart speakers, the Echo Show benefits from having a full display. But the device still uses similar light signals to its speaker counterparts, and they appear on the bottom of the screen in a thin band. Here are the color meanings:
For more Amazon Echo tips, here are some Alexa settings you won't regret changing, how to turn off Amazon Sidewalk, which automatically shares your Wi-Fi with neighbors, 5 surprising Alexa features that make working from home easier, and the best Alexa devices for 2022.