How to factory reset the Echo Dot? (Gen 1 to Gen 4)

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The Echo Dot is an awesome smart speaker, and Alexa works great with it. But when there are issues, it can be a frustrating experience. Over time, the smart assistant can experience connection issues or behave erratically.

Among the many issues that can plague the experience is an Echo Dot that refuses to connect to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It may stop responding to commands or stop playing music.

When these issues occur, the best thing to do is the factory reset your Echo Dot. This will erase all the customizations you’ve made to your device and return it to its default state.

A factory reset is also a good idea if you’re planning on giving your Echo Dot to someone else.

In this post, we’ll be discussing how to factory reset an Amazon Echo Dot. As there are several generations of Echo Dot, the reset process might be slightly different depending on which one you have.

Factory resetting your Amazon Echo

Remember that once the reset process is complete on your Amazon Echo, you’ll need to set it up from scratch.

Before you proceed with the factory reset, remove it from the Alexa app on your smartphone.

Unlink your Echo Dot from Alexa App

Removing Echo Dot from the Alexa app is pretty easy. Just grab your smartphone, open up the Alexa app, and follow these steps

Now, you can go ahead with the factory resetting process, which we’ll outline below for each generation of Echo Dot.

Factory Reset: Third & Fourth Generation Echo Dot

Both the third and fourth-gen Echo Dots have a physical button that can be used to reset the device. The process is pretty simple:

1. Press and hold the Action button (the button with a dot in the center) for about 20-30 seconds
2. The light ring on your Echo Dot will turn orange and then blue, and then it will turn off and on
3. Once the light ring turns orange, your Echo Dot is now in setup mode, and the reset is complete

That covers the latest Echo Dots, but what if you have an older model? Keep reading below.

Factory Reset: Second Generation Echo Dot

For the second-generation Echo Dot, the process is a bit different because there is no dedicated reset button:

1. To reset, press and hold the Microphone off and Volume down buttons simultaneously for 20 seconds
2. Once completed, the light ring will turn orange followed by blue
3. The device will now restart, and the light will turn orange again
4. You have now successfully reset your 2nd Generation Amazon Echo Dot

That covers the second-gen Dots. Now, let’s move on to the original Echo Dot.

Factory Reset: First-Generation Echo Dot

Follow these steps in the given order to reset a first-gen Echo Dot:

1. First, find the reset button on the top (within the pinhole)
2. Use a paperclip to press and hold the reset button for five seconds until the light ring turns orange
3. Wait until the light turns Blue
4. It will turn off momentarily and then turn orange again
5. Your first-generation Alexa Device has now been reset

This reset means that the Echo Dot is no longer connected to your Amazon account and you’ll need to set everything up again.

Wrapping up

Factory resetting the Amazon Echo Dot is a solution for a variety of issues that can occur over time. As Amazon has continued to release new models, the process for resetting has changed.

Thankfully, Amazon streamlined the reset process for the fourth and third generations. Hopefully, the same process will carry over to Echo Dot Gen 5, which is expected to come out later this year.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

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• How to connect Echo and Echo Dot to WiFi (with or without Alexa app)?
• Amazon’s new Echo Dot speakers double as Wi-Fi extenders

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s but one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.