I don't think that iOS/android devices are spying on us, but I also don't think the Amazon echo is either. In both cases you are trusting a large company to not

I don't think that iOS/android devices are spying on us, but I also don't think the Amazon echo is either. In both cases you are trusting a large company to not record you - in one case you trust apple/google to deactivate the mic on your phone when it isn't being used, and in the other case you trust Amazon to only send recordings to their servers when you say the keyword. If anything I would trust Amazon more, since the echo has a physical switch to turn off the mic. So I don't really see the difference between a phone and an echo as far as privacy is concerned.