Amazon Sidewalk is a shared wireless network that uses a small portion of your home WiFi and Bluetooth bandwidth to extend the connectivity range of devices in your community. While this can be useful for some, others may wish to disable Amazon Sidewalk for privacy or bandwidth reasons. Fortunately, it’s easy to opt out of Amazon Sidewalk on Echo devices.
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What is Amazon Sidewalk?
Amazon Sidewalk is enabled by default on many Echo and Ring devices. Here are some key things to know about Amazon Sidewalk:
- It uses a small fraction of your home WiFi’s bandwidth (max 80Kbps) to extend the working range of Sidewalk-enabled devices in your community. This can help devices stay online if they go out of range from home WiFi.
- It shares your home’s WiFi with nearby Sidewalk bridges. These bridges then extend the connectivity range for Sidewalk-enabled devices in the area.
- Amazon says Sidewalk has multiple layers of encryption to keep shared data private. But some may still feel uncomfortable sharing any home bandwidth.
How to Opt Out of Amazon Sidewalk on Echo Devices
You can easily disable Amazon Sidewalk in the Alexa app with just a few taps. Here are step-by-step instructions:
On Your Phone:
- Open the Amazon Alexa app.
- Tap “More” in the lower right.
- Select “Settings”.
- Choose “Account Settings”.
- Tap “Amazon Sidewalk”.
- Toggle “Amazon Sidewalk” off.
That’s all there is to it! Amazon Sidewalk will now be disabled on all your Echo, Ring, and other Sidewalk-enabled devices. They will no longer extend the Sidewalk network.
On Your Desktop:
You can also disable Amazon Sidewalk from the Alexa web portal:
- Visit alexa.amazon.com and log in.
- Click on Settings.
- Choose Account Settings.
- Select Amazon Sidewalk.
- Toggle Amazon Sidewalk to Off.
Amazon Sidewalk will now be disabled across your Alexa-enabled devices.
Why Disable Amazon Sidewalk on Echo Devices?
There are a few reasons you may want to opt out of Amazon Sidewalk:
- Privacy concerns – Even though Amazon says Sidewalk data is encrypted, some may feel uncomfortable sharing any home bandwidth with neighbors.
- Bandwidth caps – Those with strict home internet data caps could see minor increased usage from Amazon Sidewalk.
- Connectivity issues – In rare cases, Amazon Sidewalk has caused WiFi connectivity problems for some Echo owners.
- Prefer isolation – Some simply don’t want to participate in the shared community network.
If you have privacy concerns, strict data caps, or any connectivity issues with your Echo devices, disabling Sidewalk is an easy step to take.
What Happens When You Disable Amazon Sidewalk?
When you opt out of Amazon Sidewalk on your Echo devices:
- Your Echo and Ring devices will no longer contribute any home bandwidth to the Sidewalk network.
- Any Echo or Ring devices will work as normal otherwise. Disabling Sidewalk does not affect normal functionality.
- Sidewalk-enabled devices in your community may have slightly reduced connectivity ranges. But likely not enough for you to notice.
So you can safely opt out of Amazon Sidewalk without impacting your own device connectivity around the home.
Can You Disable Amazon Sidewalk at the Router Level?
In some cases, you may be able to block Amazon Sidewalk at your router level as well.
To do this, you would log into your router’s admin console and set up firewall rules, access controls, or other restrictions to block local devices from accessing Amazon Sidewalk bandwith or servers.
The specifics on how to do this will vary widely depending on your router make and model. Some routers have Sidewalk toggles in firmware. Others may require custom firewall rules.
Consult your router manufacturer’s documentation for details on restricting Amazon Sidewalk access if you wish to block it for all devices connected to your network.
Is Disabling Amazon Sidewalk Permanent?
Once you opt out of Amazon Sidewalk on your Echo devices in the Alexa app, it should remain disabled unless you explicitly turn it back on.
However, be aware that Amazon could enable Sidewalk again without your consent in a future Alexa app or device firmware update.
So it’s a good idea to check periodically that Sidewalk remains off in your Alexa and Ring app settings if you wish to keep it disabled permanently. There have been a few instances of Amazon quietly re-enabling Sidewalk after app updates before.
You can also set up router-level firewall rules to permanently block Sidewalk at the network level as extra assurance it remains off for all your devices.
In Summary
Amazon Sidewalk aims to extends community device connectivity by sharing a small portion of home WiFi bandwidths. But if you have any privacy concerns, it’s easy to disable by toggling Amazon Sidewalk off in the Alexa app settings. This will stop your Echo and Ring devices from contributing to the shared network without otherwise affecting their functionality around the home. You can also block Sidewalk at your router level for a more permanent disable across all connected devices if desired.
