Amazon has confirmed that Alexa voice commands to play or pause audio from the aux input on select Echo speakers will stop working, The Verge reported. The physical 3.5mm connection itself still works, but Alexa can no longer control the device plugged into it.
Writer Stevie Bonifield reported the change for The Verge on Oct. 6. It surfaced when a Reddit user said they had received a message from Amazon about it, a post first noted by Ars Technica. Spokesperson Claudia Chavira Velez said Amazon recently informed the very small group of customers who use voice requests for pausing or resuming audio from the aux input on select Echo devices that the feature is being discontinued.
Amazon's message gave no reason for removing the feature, according to The Verge, and the company's statement describes the change without explaining it. It also did not mention any change to audio output, such as plugging an external speaker into an Echo Dot. Amazon said the physical connection keeps working on every model that has the port, which The Verge lists as the second-generation Echo Plus, the third and fourth-generation Echo and the first-generation Echo Studio. Owners can still control playback from the Alexa app and can pair Bluetooth speakers.
As Ars Technica notes, Amazon has not shipped an Echo speaker with a 3.5mm aux jack in years, so the affected group is limited to owners of older hardware. Last year Amazon also took away an Echo setting that let users keep voice recordings from being sent to the cloud.