Amazon Alexa hacks you should know about

Whether you’re planning to buy an Amazon Echo before this year ends or you receive one as a gift, then you need to learn these hacks and tips. With tons of duties your Amazon Echo can perform through its personal voice assistant Alexa, why not maximize all of Alexa’s skills.

While it’s difficult to assess which of Alexa’s skills is the best, certain features stand out to most of the users. After its first release in 2014, a lot of improvements and additional features took place in the Amazon Echo. Now, Alexa can’t just play trivia games and order your fave pizza, but you can also shop online and be updated with the latest news and weather. You can even start your car with Alexa’s help.

To help you better utilize your Amazon Echo, here are the top hacks you can try with Alexa.

Photo Credit: Pexels

• Customize separate user profiles

If you haven’t heard yet, yes it’s possible to make separate profiles for every user in the household. By having separate profiles on Alexa, each of the users can have a more personalized experience. Alexa can separately access each user’s calendars, music, and shopping accounts.

Though the registered owner of the device is the only one who is authorized to create separate and new profiles. If you’re a registered user, here are the steps on how to set up a new profile:

– Go to settings in your Alexa app
– Click household profile
– Enter your account password

Once done, the other users can personally log in using the same device to connect the accounts.

• Alexa as a security device

With Alexa Guard, your Amazon Echo can be your security device. It can detect warning signs like glass breaking or smoke alarms going off. Once this happens, your Alexa app will notify you when it hears any troubling sound. The gist? It’s faster to notify when you’re out of the vicinity of your house. Although this isn’t a free option, it costs just $50 per year. Sounds like a bargain for a professional monitoring security service.

• Alexa name change

When it’s new, your assistant is named Alexa. However, Amazon gives you the chance to add a more personal touch to your virtual assistant by changing its name. This feature depends on the Echo version you have.

• Let your device send a hug

Whenever you’re missing your friends or family members, let Alexa do the works. In just seconds, you can let them know they’re in your thoughts by sending a virtual hug. Simply say, “Alexa, send a hug” to send a hug to any of your Alexa contacts.

• Online purchases security

  

  Photo Credit: Pexels

By just entering a PIN code for online shopping, you can be assured there’ll be no online leaks of your personal information like your card info. This can also be a child security feature as your kids can’t just order Alexa to buy or order anything. Here’s how to set it up:

– Open the Alexa app
– Click settings then choose Account Settings
– Hit Voice Purchasing
– Add the pin to the Require Voice Code field

• Music accessibility in every room

If there are two or more Amazon Echo devices at your house, you can link them all together to play the same playlist or song. Moreover, you can also sync certain Echo devices in specific rooms. Also, there’s no limit to creating groups. But each Echo can only be used in one group. Just click Settings then choose Multi-Room Music.

• Personalized daily routine

Whenever there’s a set of commands to repeat at certain times of the day, you can create a customized routine so Alexa can do the commands automatically. For example, every morning, you tell Alexa to “turn on the TV” or “read the news”, you can set it to be your “morning routine”.

How to:
– Go to the app then Settings
– Under Settings, choose Routines then plus sign (+)
– Hit “When this happens” then “When you say something”
– Type your chosen trigger phrase (E.g. “Alexa, start my morning routine”)

• Flip coin task

When in doubt and unsure of your decision, let Alexa help you decide. You can simply ask your device to flip a virtual coin. With a virtual assistant, you’re sure to get a fair judgment. Simply say, “Alexa, heads or tails.”

• Alexa’s voice change

In case you didn’t know, this update was just launched in the last quarter of 2019. You won’t get tired of hearing the same Alexa voice as you can change the voice’s sound to the voice of some famous personalities. You can choose from Shaquille O’ Neal, Samuel L. Jackson, Gordon Ramsay, Melissa McCarthy, and many more. Here’s how to change the voice:

– Go to Settings
– Select Alexa preferences
– Click Voice responses
– Hit on Celebrity personalities then choose whomever you prefer

• External devices connection

You can connect Alexa to other smart devices at home. For example, you can pair your Echo with your Smart TV. Once connected, you can use Echo’s voice to turn the volume of your TV up. To sync smart devices to your Amazon Echo, just go to the app settings. Then hit discover new items and pair them.

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