Is Amazon Rufus private? What Alexa for Shopping remembers and shares

The Morse teamPublished November 4, 20269 min read

As of November 2026, Amazon Rufus is not private from Amazon. Amazon renamed Rufus "Alexa for Shopping" on May 13, 2026, and gave it one shared memory with Alexa on Echo devices, the Alexa app, and Alexa.com. Amazon keeps the transcripts of your shopping chats until you delete them. What you tell Alexa at home can shape what Alexa for Shopping shows you on Amazon.com, and the reverse.

We read Amazon's Alexa for Shopping help page and FAQ, its voice shopping page, the Alexa privacy FAQ, the Amazon.com Privacy Notice (updated June 30, 2026), its Generative AI Development Disclosure, the Buy for Me terms (updated September 2, 2026), and three Amazon announcements about Rufus on November 4, 2026. Amazon earns credit for one plain warning. Its help page tells you that if you don't want Amazon to use "sensitive personal data," you should "not share it with Alexa" (Amazon).

Alexa for Shopping privacy at a glance

What happened to Amazon Rufus?

Amazon folded Rufus into Alexa on May 13, 2026. Amazon's announcement says it "brings together Rufus and Alexa+ to create 'Alexa for Shopping' on the Amazon Shopping app and website" (Amazon). The privacy picture changed with the name, so here is how Rufus got from a shopping chatbot to part of Alexa, from Amazon's own posts.

Does Alexa for Shopping share what you say with your Echo?

Yes, in both directions. Amazon's announcement says "What you share with Alexa on your Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices informs your shopping experience on Amazon," and that "your conversations, browsing, and purchases on Amazon make Alexa more helpful across all your experiences" (Amazon). The same announcement adds: "Your conversations and preferences flow in both directions."

Amazon's help page lists where that memory reaches. Alexa "remembers conversations across Amazon's website and app, as well as Alexa on Echo devices, Alexa.com, the Alexa app, Fire tablets, and Fire TV" (Amazon). Amazon's own example is a science fair project brainstormed on an Echo that turns into supply suggestions in the Amazon app the next day (Amazon).

Memory follows the profile you shop under. Amazon's FAQ says Alexa "maintains context for the profile you're logged into," and you pick that profile under "Who's Shopping?" on Amazon.com (Amazon). You can see and edit what Alexa holds about you on the About You page, reached by tapping your name in the Amazon Shopping app or on Amazon.com (Amazon).

Does Amazon save your Rufus chats?

Yes. Amazon's Alexa for Shopping FAQ says it keeps "the transcripts of those requests, as well as any requests you type to Alexa, until you choose to delete them" (Amazon). Voice is handled differently. Amazon says it will "automatically delete your voice recording after we process your request" in the Amazon Shopping app, and stores the transcript under its Privacy Notice (Amazon).

A question in the search bar can become a saved chat. In the Amazon Shopping app, Amazon says, "if we determine that your search query is best answered by Alexa, we may take you to Alexa for Shopping and start a conversation" (Amazon). The tips Alexa shows on its own while you browse "will not appear in your Alexa" history, according to the same FAQ.

Photos last a shorter time in view. You can add a photo with the "+" button, and Amazon says you can review shared images "for up to 30 days" under Settings, then Chat History, from the three dots in the chat window (Amazon).

Amazon's Alexa privacy FAQ offers to delete "typed requests to Alexa" automatically after 3 or 18 months (Amazon). As of November 4, 2026, Amazon's Alexa for Shopping pages don't say whether that setting reaches chats from the Amazon store.

How do you delete your Rufus chat history?

Go to Amazon's Review Alexa History page. Amazon's help page says you can "review and manage all of your Alexa interactions, including your shopping conversations with Alexa" there (Amazon). The app's chat window shows only "your recent chats," per Amazon's FAQ (Amazon).

Many guides still give the Rufus-era steps. A 2024 Popular Science guide says you could clear Rufus history "only in the app, and not on the web," through Manage chat and Clear chat history (Popular Science). Since May 2026, Amazon's pages point to the Alexa history page instead, and that page holds your Echo and Alexa.com chats too.

Deleting a chat doesn't delete everything it touched. Amazon's Alexa FAQ says it "may still retain other records," including "records of products you searched for" and "records of actions Alexa took" (Amazon). Pressing thumbs down on a reply keeps "a copy of text transcripts, typed requests, and other information related to your feedback," per the same FAQ. Clear the About You page as well, since it holds the preferences Alexa learned. Our Alexa+ privacy guide goes through every Alexa deletion control and what each one leaves.

Does Amazon use your Rufus chats for ads or AI training?

Amazon uses your personal information for both. Amazon's Privacy Notice says it uses personal information "to display interest-based ads" and "to develop or deploy our generative AI models and services" (Amazon). Amazon's Generative AI Development Disclosure says its training data may contain "in some cases, personal information" (Amazon).

The Alexa FAQ gives a shopping example of ads. It says "if you ask Alexa to order paper towels or for recipe ideas, you might see or hear ads related to cleaning products or cooking utensils" (Amazon). The same FAQ says "humans review an extremely small sample of your Alexa interactions" to train Amazon's models. As of November 4, 2026, none of the Alexa for Shopping pages we read names a setting that keeps shopping chats out of training. We compare training rules across companies in which AI companies train on your data.

Amazon draws a line at selling data. Its Privacy Notice says "we are not in the business of selling our customers' personal information to others" (Amazon). It also says Amazon releases account information "when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law." You can limit ad personalization under Your Ads Privacy Choices (Amazon).

What does Buy for Me share with other stores?

Your name and contact details. Amazon says Alexa for Shopping can buy from other websites through Buy for Me "using your primary address and credit card" (Amazon). The Buy for Me terms say "you direct Amazon to provide information to the Merchant," such as "name, shipping and billing addresses, phone number, and email address" (Amazon). Amazon also creates a "unique 'relay' email address" for each order and forwards the store's emails to you. The terms say the purchase "is subject to the Merchant's terms and policies," so the other store's privacy rules govern what it does with your details.

Can you turn off Rufus on Amazon?

As of November 4, 2026, none of the Amazon pages we read describes a switch that turns Alexa for Shopping off. When a search is sent to Alexa, Amazon says "you can always" get "standard product search results instead" (Amazon). You can turn off the microphone for shopping in the Amazon Shopping app under the You tab, Settings, Permissions, then Shop with voice (Amazon).

How Morse keeps your questions out of your Amazon profile

Every row above comes from Alexa for Shopping filing your questions under the Amazon account that already holds your orders, your addresses, your card, and your Echo history, with a memory that runs both ways. On Morse, a question about a product, a symptom, or a gift has no store account to join.

• No shared memory with your home. Your Morse chat history is stored in your browser, encrypted, and locked when you sign out. Morse's servers don't keep messages or log what you write, so there's no server copy of your chats for a store or a smart speaker to draw on.
• No transcript waiting to be deleted. Clearing your browser or deleting your account deletes your chats, and Morse can't recover them, so save anything you need. Attached files are sent with the message and never stored by Morse.
• No ads, and no selling. Morse doesn't train AI on your content, sell your data, or show ads, and it runs no advertising trackers or third-party analytics.
• Very little to hand over. Because we don't store chats, we usually have very little to give authorities.

Pick a mode for each chat:

• Anonymous, to research a purchase with GPT, Claude, or Gemini without the model maker knowing it's you. Our proxy removes your account, email, and IP address and sends the message under Morse's own account. The provider sees the message without knowing it's you, and may keep it for a limited time to check for abuse, under its own policy.
• Private, the default, for comparisons and questions you'd rather no company keep. Open-weight models like DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM, plus Grok, answer here, and Morse has zero data retention agreements with its inference, search, and other providers. Where a provider confirms zero retention on each reply, Morse checks it and refuses a reply that doesn't.
• E2EE, for a health, money, or family question no one should read. Your browser checks the enclave's proof that it's genuine before anything leaves your device, then encrypts the message so only that enclave can read it, and our servers relay text they can't read. The enclaves are run by third-party providers, not by Morse, and the protection rests on the enclave hardware and attestation working as designed.

Our privacy policy lists what the account itself holds: sign-in details, plan, balance, and a usage ledger with no chat content. For how other assistants compare, see are AI chats private.

What should you keep out of Alexa for Shopping?

• Anything you wouldn't say to your Echo: the memory is shared, so treat a shopping chat as an Alexa chat.
• Sensitive questions: Amazon's own advice is not to share sensitive personal data with Alexa. Ask them on Morse, in Private mode, or in E2EE for anything no one should read.
• Photos of people or documents: Amazon lets you review shared images for up to 30 days, and its pages don't say when it deletes them.
• Old chats: delete them on Review Alexa History, then check the About You page.

Morse's Free plan includes web search and needs no card. You can send a first message from the Morse home page without an account, or start free.