Alexa can’t control the aux input on Amazon Echo speakers anymore

If you’ve been using an older Amazon Echo device as a speaker through its 3.5mm aux input, Alexa voice commands to play or pause from line in may stop working. Ars Technica points to this Reddit poster claiming they received a message from Amazon and says an unnamed spokesperson confirmed the change. When contacted by The Verge, Amazon did not provide an on-the-record statement.

The message does not include any explanation for why the feature was removed. It also doesn’t mention any changes to audio output functionality like connecting an external speaker to an Echo Dot, and it appears that control of the port from within the app’s settings menu still works.

As Ars Technica points out, it’s been years since Amazon released an Echo speaker with a 3.5mm aux port, and last year, Amazon also removed an Echo feature that allowed users to opt out of sending voice recordings to the cloud.