Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays are really cool devices. for between $90 and $250 (often much cheaper with Amazon’s ongoing sales), you get a touchscreen smart speaker that can play music, show you photos, start a video call with friends and family, act as a security camera, and double as Bluetooth speakerand control your smart locks, lights and security cameras.
There’s one big caveat, though: Amazon’s hardware is heavily subsidized by its services, and when you buy an Echo Show, you’re basically bringing a small billboard for Amazon’s services into your home. If you use it as is, you’ll be bombarded with so much bloatware encouraging you to use Amazon services that you may be tempted to unplug it and stash it in a drawer.
When you buy an Echo Show, you take home a small billboard advertising Amazon services
But don’t do it! Echo Shows are useful devices (read our reviews for more information on this), and it’s easy to get rid of all this bloatware and set a Show to only show pretty pictures and no Amazon ads. Here I’ll show you how to configure your Show to be less annoying.
(Note: There is currently no easy way to disable “By the way…” voice responses that Alexa gives from time to time, often designed to upsell you. However, I have it on good authority that if you yell at her angry when you do this, you will do it less often).
You can change these photo settings directly in the Alexa app at any time. Simply open the app, tap Echo and Alexa devices, select your device from the list, tap Settings, and scroll down to Viewing photos.
Enjoy your smart display without Amazon ads!
