Have you ever gone to your room to find yourself Amazon Echo Device flashing yellow? What about during a big rumble, when your whole house loses power – when the power is restored, a blue light starts pulsing on your eco. One thing we love about Amazon Echo Gear is that in addition to Alexa, your smart speaker employs a coded language of pulsing and solid colors to convey the device’s position and other relevant information. However, what those colors and lights mean is unclear at first.
We’ve put together a helpful guide to help you understand each meaning of colored light. If you ever forget what a certain color represents and your device is lit, you can say, “Alexa, what does your light mean” and he will reveal that his current position represents light.
Blue
Powering and command responses
The blue signal lights on your Echo device are the indicators you will most likely see. When you are powering your Echo for the first time, or anytime after activation you plug in your device, your speaker will see a blue light with a wave of cyan. This is your Echo telling you that it is booting. As the device nears its boot completion, more and more cyan will occupy the light ring. The last three pulses of cyan indicate that your echo is loaded and ready to go.
When you talk to Alexa, one of the most common is blue light. After releasing your chosen word, your Echo will illuminate the solid blue color, and a small shock of cyan will indicate where Alexa believes the command voice is coming from.
After listening to your command, your echo will alternate between solid blue and solid cyan. This Alexa is actively processing your request. Once Alexa completes your request, the blue light will go off.
Yellow
You have received mail or some other type of notification
One of the most convenient features of Alexa is its ability to tell when Amazon packages have arrived at your doorstep. In terms of your Echo device, this news comes in the form of a slowly beating yellow light. You will see the same pulsing yellow for other types of information, including missed messages and reminders. To know what a notification is, just say, “Alexa, what are my notifications.”
Once Alexa tells you what you have missed (or if you already know), you can say, “Alexa, clear my notifications,” and she will do just that.
Red
Alexa stopped listening or watching
Your Echo’s solid red light is one of two Alexa status lights that have been received with the actual button press. In this case, it means that your Echo’s microphone button was purposefully or accidentally pushed. This simply means Alexa will No Listen for the words of his wake. To enable the microphone, simply press the mic button again.
Purple
Do not enable, or there is no problem with Wi-Fi
The second Alexa position light achieved by a button press is a single pulse of solid purple. This confirms that your Echo device is in Do Not Disturb mode. When enabled, you will not be disturbed by incoming drop ins, calls, messages or other notifications. Unlike the mic button, the button press above is not located on your Echo, but in the Alexa app.
To enable / disable, open the Alexa app, tap equipment, Locate your device, then scroll down do not disturb. On the next page, you can toggle Do Not Disturb on / off, as well as create customized blocks of time where your Echo will automatically enable and disable Do Not Disturb.
You can also toggle Dont Disturb by just saying, “Alexa, don’t disturb.” After a single stroke of purple, he would reply, “I will not disturb you.” To disable, just say, “Alexa, stop not disturbing.” You’ll hear the same chime, followed by Alexa saying, “Don’t disturb is closed now,” and a stroke of violet light.
The second purple indicator is a signal that is in trouble. This usually comes in the form of a Wi-Fi connection or some other network error. In this case, your Echo device would be I amFully pulsed solid violet. Often, small network glits can be fixed by simply unplugging your Echo and plugging it back in. If the pulsed purple light returns, you can try cycling your network equipment or contacting your service provider.
Orange
In-between setup or connecting to Wi-Fi
You will probably see this color at least. A rotating orange light on your Echo device means that your speaker is in the middle of booting. More commonly, this means that the device is trying to register you in the Alexa app in the Wi-Fi network you select.
Green
Incoming call or active call
When you receive a call through your Alexa device, or if someone is trying to drop in to your Echo, you will see a pulsed green light, and it will be accompanied by an audible chime. Also, if you are on an active call or using a drop in with another Alexa device, a spinning green light will appear to show your Echo live.
White
Volume up and down
Whenever you increase or decrease the volume on your Echo device, whether it is displayed through your Alexa app, voice commands, or Echo’s physical buttons. White light displays in increments of ten, depending on how much volume or soft you have set your volume. If there is no light, it means that your Echo device is silent. A fully completed white circle of light means that you are at maximum volume.
What if I have an Echo Show?
This guide to colored lights is applicable to both Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. Amazon’s screen devices, including Echo Show and Echo Spot, will accurately display any active notification, incoming call, or volume adjustment on the screen.
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