Amazon Sidewalk
There was a buzz about Amazon sidewalk among Amazon device users. It’s finally live now. Sidewalk allows other people’s Amazon devices to connect by passing signals through your devices. Sounds too risky, right? Well, not really. Let’s dive into the device specs and see how good it is.
Overview of Sidewalk
Amazon sidewalk acts as a bridge for the selected device. It comes activated by default in Amazon devices. These devices will start acting as a bridge.
Amazon is mainly doing it to make all the device connections stronger and allow them to connect wherever they go. In simpler words, it will increase the bandwidth range. If you are using Amazon smart device, you can benefit from the same. The devices:
• Echo (3rd gen and newer)
• Echo Dot (3rd gen and newer)
• Echo Dot for Kids (3rd gen and newer)
• Echo Dot with Clock (3rd gen and newer)
• Echo Show (all models and generations)
• Echo Plus (all generations)
• Echo Studio
• Echo Flex
• Echo Spot
• Echo Input
• Ring Floodlight Cam (2019)
• Ring Spotlight Cam Wired (2019)
• Ring Spotlight Cam Mount (2019)
It’s a simple way to remove the gap between the home network and the weaker wireless connection. This includes Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and sections of the 900MHz radio spectrum (specifically which uses LoRa signals).To say it practically, Amazon is creating a mesh network where all the devices will be connected. The echo and ring devices can be called the middleman. The signals will pass through that device helping you connect all the Amazon devices. Now, you don’t need to worry about your back-lights or smart mailbox, Amazon will take care of it. Let’s talk about the main scary part, shall we?
What about the Privacy and Security?
“Other devices will send a signal to your device” – This single statement sounds scary. But here are few points you need to understand.
• None of the devices will be able to see your home network nor you will be able to see any of the user’s information.
• Usually, the device will connect with Bluetooth LE or LoRa and will only use a very small part of your bandwidth.
• Don’t worry about the data, there is a cap limit of 500 MB per month of data usage.
Also, the security is too good. So, that’s also something not to worry about. However, there is one major thing that you need to know. It comes on by default. If you want, you can turn it off, let’s see how you can do it.
How to disable Amazon Sidewalk?
• You need to open the Alexa settings. For that, you can click on the More icon at the bottom right.
• You can then head over to Settings > Account Settings > Amazon sidewalk. You can toggle it off.
• Thereafter, click on the community finding and turn off the location.
Final Words
As this is a new feature for all of us, there might be small issues at first. However, it’s surely worth giving a try as it’s completely secure and your privacy is in your hand. Above all, you can control what will happen.