Alexa eavesdropped on my family's gossip, conversations about new jobs and ...

A MailOnline investigation into how much personal information Alexa is recording and storing on its users has revealed the smart assistant eavesdrops on housemates' gossip, private conversations about insurance policies - and even the family dog. 

Amazon insists Alexa can only be activated when the allocated 'wake word' is uttered - being Alexa, Computer or Echo. 

The tech giant - along with Apple's Siri and, until recently, Google's Assistant - says it saves every single interaction a person has with the device to improve the service - with some 'unintentional' snippets also being recorded if it mistakes another noise for a 'wake word'.

However, evidence seen by MailOnline shows this cannot be the case, or the process is fundamentally flawed, as a host of sounds and conversations were recorded without a clear or legitimate wake word being uttered - some when there was not even a human nearby. 

Smart assistants are now commonplace in many homes but users remain unaware of the treasure trove of private data they store - and that they can access it themselves to hear what has been recorded from their own everyday lives.   

A MailOnline investigation into these 'secret' archives has revealed an eerie snippets of users' friends, families and children being recorded while they were completely unaware -  and without a clear or legitimate wake word being uttered.

One user found his Alexa repeatedly activated to record the same guest in their house gossiping about work colleagues, while another was recorded in a private discussion about their insurance policy - and another about their dream job. 

Bizarrely, in one household, Alexa seems to have developed an obsession with the family dog - waking up 13 times to record it barking. 

In a worrying twist, this was often when there was no one in the house who could possibly have ordered it to activate. 

You can find out what your device knows about you and what it has been listening to here and read on to see what we unearthed. 

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE HOW YOU CAN LISTEN TO YOUR OWN 'SECRET' ALEXA ARCHIVE 

Joe Pinkstone, 23, London - Owner of Echo Dot 3rd Generation and an Amazon Fire 7 tablet 

An early Christmas present, I have kept my Echo Dot on the coffee table in the flat I share with two friends. 

We use it mainly to tell us when our food is cooked, what the weather is expected to be like for the upcoming weekend and to play the radio while we wait. 

When trawling back through my own archives I was stunned to hear just how many snippets from my day-to -day life the device is recording - even when I can't possibly have triggered it to 'wake up' by saying the word Alexa first.

It has encroached an unnerving amount into the lives of the flat's inhabitants and our visitors, and we didn't even know it was happening.

A friend was picked up on two separate occasions gossiping about colleagues, and private conversations of my flat mate on the phone to family members were recorded with fantastic clarity - in some case with recordings several seconds long. 

While they won't have meant much to anyone unconnected listening in - for some reason Alexa captured a lengthy rant by my Liverpool FC-supporting friend as he went about his weekly ritual of watching his beloved team. 

While Alexa struggles to pick out recordings from crowds of people talking at once, it often wakes up and captures the babble of large groups, it seems she does have a sense of humour at least.

The device captured the moment a friend said: 'You're only little though, Joe' as part of a rather cruel tête-à-tête during his visit.  

Sifting through the archive available in the Alexa app, many of the entries were labelled as 'Text not available - audio was not intended for Alexa'. But it still recorded anyway. And saved it, permanently. 

Fortunately, there was noting incriminating or sensitive about the information captured by my Alexa-enabled devices.  

But it did give me a strange chill listening to the snippets of conversation that it knew, by its own admission, it was not supposed to be listening to. 

Sally and Paul Pinkstone, both 53, Derby, England - Owners of an Echo Dot 2nd Generation 

The Echo sits on the counter in the kitchen of our home, an anniversary gift from last year which serves to play music and give daily news briefings.  

Going through the data was eye opening - we had no idea it was recording such a host of noises and conversations - and how bizarre that it was picking up on and recording many random moments. 

Since being set up in July it clocked 13 separate occasions where the family dog, Cocoa, barked at upcoming visitors, be it the postman, the widow cleaner or an irrational response to passing birds. 

Worryingly, there was often nobody in the house who could possibly have triggered it. 

It also woke up several times on Christmas and Boxing Day when there were big crowds in the room - mainly having recorded gibberish but these recordings could hide any matter of conversation not intended for outside ears.

Some of the recordings, however, were far less obscure and infinitely more concerning.  

A private conversation about insurance policies and the level of excess was recorded and saved by Alexa - despite no wake word ever being consciously muttered. 

It also captured Paul discussing renovating our daughter's bedroom, a slight disagreement about where the pots should go and weighing up the pros and cons of whether or not to go for a new job.  

Stephen Matthews, 24, London - Owner of an Echo Dot 3rd Generation and an Echo 2nd Generation  

I have two Alexa-enabled devices, the Dot in the living room and the larger device in the kitchen. Between the two of them the device captures pretty much any noise in the flat. 

Our archive revealed it is used almost exclusively for tuning in to BBC Radio 1, but it did capture some moments of

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