Amazon has officially disabled voice control for the auxiliary input on several older Echo speaker models. Users received notifications this week stating that commands such as playing audio from the line-in port are no longer supported.
The update impacts specific legacy hardware, including the Echo Plus 2nd Gen from 2018, the Echo 3rd Gen and Echo Studio 1st Gen from 2019, and the Echo 4th Gen released in 2020. Amazon has not manufactured Echo devices with 3.5 mm ports for several years.
A company representative stated that users can continue to connect external devices to their speakers via Bluetooth. The spokesperson claimed that the usage of voice commands for the auxiliary input was minimal, though Amazon did not disclose the exact number of affected customers.
The company did not provide a specific reason for removing this functionality. Some observers suggest the move may be part of an effort to streamline Alexa maintenance as Amazon shifts resources toward its new subscription-based AI service, Alexa+.
This follows a previous decision by Amazon last year to remove the option for users to prevent their Echo devices from sending voice recordings to the company. That change affected the Echo 4th Gen, Echo Show 15, and Echo Show 10.
