What Amazon Sidewalk is and how to opt out of it

Sidewalk aims to take a little piece of your internet bandwidth from these devices to create a neighborhood network

Amazon just expanded its sidewalk network, and if you have an Amazon Echo or Ring, chances are you are part of Amazon Sidewalk.

But, what is the new change and what if you want to opt-out?

The aim of Sidewalk is to take a little piece of your internet bandwidth from these devices to create a neighborhood network.

This essentially means you’ll be providing internet access to anyone’s sidewalk devices in range of your Ring cameras or Echo speakers.

If you don’t want to share your internet access with others, there is a way to opt-out.

CNET recently listed the steps you’ll need to take to turn off Amazon Sidewalk on your devices.

First, open the Alexa app on your phone then tap “more” in the lower right-hand corner of the app.

After that, tap settings and then go to account settings.

Next, you’ll want to tap Amazon Sidewalk.

Finally switch Sidewalk off and then exit the app.

The process is simple and it can easily be reversed if you so choose.

But just know, opting out will give you a chance to see how the latest expansion of Sidewalk unfolds and whether or not there are any privacy issues.

For more about Amazon’s Sidewalk, just check out Amazon’s support website.


About the Authors

Roslyn Jimenez is a news producer at KSAT. Before joining the team, she was a producer and video editor at KIII-TV and a radio intern in Corpus Christi. She graduated from Del Mar College with an Associate's degree in political science and liberal arts. Roslyn is family-oriented and loves spending time with her fiancé and chihuahua Paco.

Recommended Videos