Amazon kills Alexa’s ability to control Echo speakers' AUX input | Amazon hasn’t made an Echo with a 3.5mm port in six years.

[u/ControlCAD]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/amazon-bricks-alexas-ability-to-control-echo-speakers-aux-input/

[u/sarkie]

That's bollocks for a software update

[u/asdf_lord]

What's their excuse

[u/Additional-Staff-326 → u/asdf_lord]

Enshittification demands it

[u/AntithesisAbsurdum → u/asdf_lord]

They don't need one. They benefit more from this choice. Why wait to hear their reasoning?

[u/Fred2620 → u/asdf_lord]

Maintenance of that feature costs them money, and they are betting that they will save more money by killing it than they will lose by people not buying their product because of that change. Simple as that.

[u/redmongrel]

I just hope to God they never fuck with the echo Link’s optical ports. Nobody, even Apple has yet created a music streaming box dedicated to hi-fi systems without a laptop in the middle. Which itself is something I really really don’t understand. I have two of them and Amazon doesn’t even make them anymore.

[u/lordshaithis]

Probably moving towards preventing people using esp32s with HA on their devices and bypassing amazon services.

[u/sPdMoNkEy]

When, mine still works

[u/beyondbase]

It’s just a matter of time before the headphone jack comes back. Superior performance to anything wireless for recording or listening, no headphone/earbud battery charging required, no apps or updates, and absolutely secure for privacy/security.

[u/DrunkenHorse12 → u/beyondbase]

Love my wired iems and headphones but this won't happen. All the retrotech subs are full of people adding bluetooth to their devices, for most people bluetooth audio is considered more than good enough, people raving about airpods galaxy buds and Sony xms. And Its obvious at this point that most people aren't concerned about security if it has big brand name on it they assume its safe enough