With Latest Update, Alexa Refuses to Pass the Aux

What happened

As first reported by Reddit user [n8-sd] , Amazon has started informing users that voice control over the 3.5 mm jack is no longer supported. In a statement to Ars Technica , an Amazon rep confirmed that voice control over the auxiliary input has been removed as of the latest software version, and that their analytics showed not many people were using the feature in the first place.

Although the feature has been deleted from newer models, there was a time when Amazon’s Echo devices included a 3.5 mm “aux” input jack that let you connect other audio sources to the smart speaker. Alexa would even let you switch over to an external source with a voice command — or at least, it used to.

While the physical input will still function on models equipped with it, if you want to mute the audio coming from an external device you’ll have to wade through the Alexa smartphone application to do it. They also pointed out that no changes have been made to voice control of Bluetooth devices.