The Echo Show is a fun and useful device, but there are times when you want to dim or turn off the screens in your home. Thankfully this is often straightforward to do, and the gist is:
You can turn off the Echo Show screen by using the “Alexa, turn off the screen” voice command or by turning on the Do Not Disturb mode. The Echo Show has several other options you can toggle for dimming and turning off the screen. You can even use a smart plug to turn the device fully off when you’re out of the house.
Let’s turn down the lights and get in control of one of the most important features on the Echo Show.
The Amazon Echo Show
The Amazon Echo Show that’s an interactive touch-screen (which supports live view mode), as well as a camera, along with all the other features that you’ve come to expect from the Amazon Echo.
This adds plenty of functionality whether you are looking to video chat with friends and family or you want the added functionality of being able to watch visual media with all of the connectivity of the echo.
However, the brightness of the Echo Show screen can be a problem, especially when we’re looking to dim the lights.
Why Would You Want to Turn Off the Echo Show Screen?
The Echo Show is all about the screen, so why would you want to turn it off?
There are plenty of reasons to turn off your Echo Show screen:
- One of the biggest is that the light coming from the screen can interrupt our natural sleep cycles.
If it feels like it’s getting harder to turn the lights off and get to bed, you’re not alone. All of our smart devices are constantly pushing notifications and activating LED lights that can mess with the natural rhythm of sleep. Turning off your Echo Show screen can help put you back in charge of getting a comfortable night’s rest. - You can also save some power by turning off your Echo Show screen. Even though these screens don’t use a lot of electricity, every little bit counts and adds up over time.
- You might also want to turn off your Echo Show screen for privacy reasons. You don’t always want your photos on display, notifications showing up, four people interacting with a device that they might think is on and open to the public.
You can probably think of a few more reasons why you’d want to temporarily dim or turn off your Echo Show screen. Regardless of why you want the screen off, we’re going to show you how to get it done.
How to Turn off the Echo Show Screen
Amazon devices don’t always give us a lot of options when it comes to staying again in control of their settings, but the Echo Show screen is the exception that proves the rule.
We have an abundance of tools at our disposal when it comes to staying in control of how bright your Echo Show screen gets. We’re going to start by looking at the building features and then look at a few interesting options you’ve got for adding more smart devices to stay in control of your Echo Show.
Use the Built-In Settings
Your Amazon Echo Show comes with plenty of options for adjusting the brightness of the screen. Each of these options are either inside of the echo show or the Alexa app itself. Don’t give you plenty of options for adjusting the brightness, turning the screen all the way off, and customizing when and how your screen lights up.
Note: These settings have been cross-checked on both 1st gen and 2nd gen Echo Show devices in the UK, but sometimes the menu options vary between models and countries. If you can’t find a specific option, please either click around – or leave a comment and I can investigate further. Thanks!
Night Mode
You can find your night mode settings in your Settings > Clock & Photo Display menu (scroll to the bottom, to see the “Night Mode” option). Night mode has two functions: automatic and schedule:
Automatic night mode will turn off and dim your screen once it gets to the evening wherever you’re located. This is automatically determined based on your time zone.
You can also set night mode to a custom schedule. This can be a great choice if you want things to get dimmer faster or things to stay a little brighter even after sunset.
Night mode will only ever dim the screen unless you disable the ambient clock setting. We’ll cover how to do that later, but a lot of these features will leave the clock up and running unless you turn that feature off.
Auto Sleep
Autosleep is another great feature if you’re looking to have your Amazon Echo Show automatically turn off after not being used.
Auto sleep will automatically turn off the screen after 10 minutes of not being used. This is an ideal option to save some power and keep the screen off when the device is not being used.
This is also a great choice for combining with night mode or other settings on this list. This gives you even more coverage when it comes to keeping your screen dim or totally turned off.
Here’s how you can turn on auto sleep on your Echo Show.
- Settings
- Clock & Photo Display
- Toggle Auto Sleep On
Brightness Settings
Did you know that you can manually change the brightness of your Echo Show screen just by swiping down from the home screen?
All you need to do is swipe down, click “Brightness” and you’ll be able to see the brightness slider. You can turn down the brightness as far as you want or crank it up if you need things to be a little brighter:
This is a great choice for making on the Fly adjustments. If things are just a little too bright at the moment, just swipe down from the home screen and you can get in control of your screen brightness right away.
Adaptive Brightness
Adaptive brightness is also a great future when it comes to dimming things on your Amazon Echo Show.
Adaptive brightness adjusts the ambient light levels in the room and adjusts your screen to match. This means your screen will get dimmer when the room is darker and the screen will get brighter when the room is more brightly lit.
This feature is a great choice when combined with night mode for the auto sleep setting.
Here’s how you can turn on adaptive brightness on your Echo Show:
- Swipe down and click “Brightness”..
- OR go to “Settings” and then “Display”
- Toggle Adaptive Brightness On
This is in the same screen as the brightness slider covered above, but there’s a few extra options:
Do Not Disturb Mode
No matter what path you take for disabling the Amazon Echo Show screen or adjusting its brightness, you want to make sure that you have a do not disturb mode set up.
Do Not Disturb prevents any notifications from brightening up your screen. However, reminders and alarms will still go through.
This is vital for preventing your screen from turning on even if you have adaptive brightness settings and night mode already activated. If you aren’t near your Echo Show, you’ll be able to set up a do not disturb mode in the Alexa app. Here’s how you can set it up quickly:
- Open your Alexa app
- Select Devices
- Select Echo & Alexa
- Select your Echo Show
- Tap Do Not Disturb
- Toggle Do Not Disturb on or off
You can also swipe down and go to “Do Not Disturb” and see all the settings on the Echo Show itself:
Disable Ambient Clock
Want to really make Do Not Disturb mode work? You’re going to need to disable the ambient clock feature.
This is the feature that makes the screen display a basic clock even when everything else has been turned off. This could be a useful feature, but sometimes you just need to dim the lights and fully turn off the screen.
Here’s how to disable, and then enable, your ambient clock as needed.
- Settings
- Clock & Photo Display
- Scroll down and toggle the “Ambient Clock” Setting (also sometimes called “Night-Time Clock”)
Turning Off Amazon Echo Show Screen with Voice Commands
By far the easiest way to turn off the Amazon Echo Show screen is by using a voice command. All you need to do is say “Alexa, turn off the screen” and your Echo Show will automatically go dark.
This is the easiest way to stay in control of your screen. However, it does have some specific rules about when and how it works.
This turns your screen off until you interact with your Echo Show again. This means that notifications will turn the screen back on and so will tapping the screen or using your Echo Show.
However, you’ll still be able to use voice commands with the screen off. Your Echo Show is still on and running, but this voice command turns the screen.
Use a Smart Plug to Turn Off the Screen
If you want to get really clever and use some DIY smart home fun to turn off your Echo Show screen, you can add a smart plug to the system.
All you need to do is plug your Echo Show into a smart plug and then connect that into the socket in your wall. You can then control that smart plug with whatever app you use to control all of your smart devices. Just tap the “off” button in the app, to turn your Echo Show off completely:
When you want it back on, just press the “on” button in the app (or use a voice command, if you’ve integrated your smart plug with a smart speaker) and your Echo Show will come back on.
This is a great option because it puts you in control of turning on and off your Echo Show when you’re out of the house. This is the best choice for keeping your Echo Show in check when you’re gone for work or on vacation.
Best of all, it introduces you to the world of smart plugs. These are some of the most underrated smart devices that you can pick up today. They add so much additional smart functionality beyond just turning off your Echo Show when you’re out of the house.
If you use a smart plug to turn off the device, how can you turn it back on with a command or with the app? If it is physically OFF with no power, it seems like you would have to manually turn it back on at the smart plug.
Good question – you can control the smart plug with the smart plug’s app, a timer (e.g. setting up a schedule to say “turn on at 7am”), or another Echo device.
I tried to use the “Alexa, turn off the screen” in a routine and it didn’t work.
Also, if you have more than one alexa, and the closest one doesn’t have a screen, it will tell you invalid command rather than passing the command to a smarter device that does. Alexa aren’t that smart or well programmed. You can only have one custom command per routine, which is inconvenient.
Hmm, did you add the “Alexa, turn off the screen” as a custom command? It should work, but I agree that Alexa generally is fairly buggy – and what works for one person, does not always work for someone else.
I also find it frustrating how Alexa does not “cascade” with commands. As you suggest, if one device can not handle a command, it should ideally leave another Echo deal with it. I hope they introduce this feature at some point, it will become especially important as the platform keeps adding new features.
I use “Alexa, display off” and then direct it at the Echo Show in my bedroom. I had always verbally said “Alexa, display off” to darken the screen and even though there is a Gen 3 Echo Dot in ear shot ,it has never responded to “display off”.
I have a house full of automation and really enjoy my 2nd gen echo shows. I should point out that using the display command keeps it from trying to turn off other Echo Dot units. My Echo Shows are not close enough to try and react and the ability to select the device in the routine command makes this work well. I now use it in other commands to darken my other shows.
Do you have any idea how to direct this to more than one Echo Show?
Hi Dave,
Ah that’s definitely interesting. Sometimes Echos can be a bit poor at hearing a command that isn’t meant for them, but it’s neat that “Alexa, display off” works well here.
Regarding the Echo Show question – I think the only real answer (beyond speaking quietly near one of them!) is to change the command word for some of your Echos. I have two Echo Shows down stairs, and I use one as “Alexa” and another as “Echo”. This works fairly well to be honest.
So basically, I need a smart plug to turn off an Alexa. Wow.
Well there are other ways of turning the screen off (which will reduce electricity use etc). But yes, there’s a certain irony that they don’t include their own ‘self standby mode’… but Amazon will happily sell you their own smart plug to implement this functionality yourself!
Looks like I will have the Echo View in the living room since I can’t get the thing to go to sleep with commands or settings to auto sleep.
Sorry to hear that. Turning off the screen with one of the (many) settings is usually possible, but I think that the Echo Show has so many settings and different options that it’s easy to come up with clashing (or unexpected) settings.
Brilliant. Worked first time! No more turning the actual Alexa over to block the screen.
Thank you
Glad to hear that it worked well for you Diane!
I love your column on home automation. I’m just about as animated as you! Have you done this yet?: I have Wi-Fi water sensors beneath my washer, hot water heater and sinks. They will alarm to my phone if they sense even a little water. Then I have a Wi-Fi handle turner on the whole house water valve. I can turn it off with the app, or I can just say “Alexa, turn off the water valve” (back on, too). I’ll be looking for a Wi-Fi starter for the gas logs if you need to invent something! The TV’s have been the most challenging, but I am making good progress with Roku and LG. I’d love to correspond about other ideas. I am a retired physician, chemist, economist, and active historian and hiker!
Hi Ted, thanks for the comment, glad to see another home automation fan!
Yes smart water sensors (and valves) are great, the benefit from being able to detect leaks – and turn off the water valves – is pretty massive.
TVs generally can be an issue as you have found, especially because so many TVs nowadays are ‘smart TVs’ with their own smart home apps, that all do things slightly differently. I also have an LG TV and I do like their smart approach, especially because some of their TVs have started becoming hubs in their own right (with ZigBee etc chips inside).
Happy to chat further – my email is tristan@smarthomepoint.com
Thanks!
Tristan