If you own a device like the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, then you likely use the Alexa personal assistant to report the weather or play some music. Aside from answering basic questions, you can have Alexa perform dozens of other tasks and control a number of smart home automation devices. What else can Alexa do? Here are 30 Amazon Alexa tips that you should know about:
1.) Disable / Change Wake Word
If you want to disable Alexa from listening to a wake word, then look for the mute button on the device. Then you will have to press it down and a red ring will highlight. After that, Alexa will remain muted until the button is pressed again.
You can also change the wake word by going to alexa.amazon.com and going to Settings > (Device name) > Wake Word Alexa under General.
2.) Controlling Smart Home Devices With Alexa
To control smart light bulbs, thermostats, etc. using Alexa, you can do so in the Smart Home section of the Alexa app.
3.) Add Some Skills To Alexa
Within the Alexa app on Android and iOS, you can download “Skills” to Amazon Alexa — which is essentially an app store for the digital assistant. Some of the best Amazon Alexa Skills include Stock Prices by Opening Bell, This Day In History by A&E Television Networks, Word of the Day by Peppercorn Media, Fandango, 7-Minute Workout, 1-Minute Mindfulness and Sleep Sounds: White Noise. To make the process of adding Skills faster, you can also use voice commands like: “Alexa, enable Stock Prices by Opening Bell.”
4.) Use Alexa As A Bluetooth Speaker
Alexa has built-in support for several audio streaming services like Amazon Prime Music, Audible, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio and TuneIn Radio. But many people do not know that it can be used as a Bluetooth speaker for playing audio directly from your mobile device.
Let’s say that you want to play some music from your phone, simply say “Alexa, connect to Bluetooth.” Then connect to your Alexa device from the Bluetooth menu of your device. Or you can connect your mobile device to the Alexa by going to the Bluetooth section of alexa.amazon.com. Once your mobile device pairs with your Alexa device, you can play audio from your smartphone to the Alexa device.
5.) Change Default Music Player On Alexa
When you buy your Alexa device, the default music player is Amazon Music. But you can change the default music player. To change the default to other music services like Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio and TuneIn by going to the Amazon Alexa app and then Settings > Music & Media under Alexa Preferences > Choose default music services.
6.) Get Alexa To Understand How You Speak
Sometimes Alexa has difficulty understanding different voices and accents. Fortunately, there is a way to get Alexa to understand you better by creating a voice profile in the Alexa app.
You can set one up by going into Settings of the Alexa app on your mobile device and then select Your Voice. Once you create a voice profile, Alexa can send and play your messages without asking who you are and you can shop confidently knowing Alexa is responding to just your commands.
Another useful feature for getting Alexa to understand your voices and accents is by going into your History under Settings in the Alexa app and tapping on the voice command listing that did not work correctly. If Alexa did not understand your command, then you can respond “No” to “Did Alexa do what you wanted?”
7.) Have Alexa Repeat An Answer
If you miss a response from Alexa, then you can have it repeated. You just simply have to say "Alexa, can you repeat that?"
8.) Delete Voice Command History
Alexa keeps a log of all of your voice commands, but you can delete it if you want. To delete a specific voice command, open the Alexa app, go into Settings > History > (tap the recent command) > Delete Voice Recordings.
You can also delete all the recordings in one go by logging in to the main Amazon website and going to Your Account. Then tap on Content and devices and click on the Your Devices tab. Tap on the “…” button the left of your Alexa device and then click on Manage voice recordings. Tapping on Delete will clear the history in full.
9.) Control Alexa From A Different Account
There may be some circumstances where you would like to switch accounts. For example, your spouse might have a better music collection in Amazon Music or Pandora. You can see which profile you are using by saying “Alexa, which profile am I using?” And then you can switch profiles by saying “Alexa, switch profile.”
10.) Connect Your Family Prime Account To Alexa
There is a way to connect your family Prime account to Alexa. This can be done by going to alexa.amazon.com and going to Settings. After you scroll down the page and set up your Amazon Household. The family members that you add will have to download the Alexa app on their device to join the household.
11.) Setting Up Groups For Different Smart Home Devices
You can set up a Group for each of your devices from within the Alexa app or alexa.amazon.com. Some examples of Groups you can set up include “Backyard Lighting” and “Kitchen Devices.” If you have more than one Alexa device, then you should consider making a profile for them and get surround sound going whenever you play music.
12.) Play A Few Games With Alexa
Alexa has a few games built-in that you can play. When you say “Alexa play the animal game,” Alexa will try to guess the animal that you are thinking of by asking a series of questions. Other games include “Akinator,” “Bingo,” “Blackjack,” “Escape the Room,” “Movie Quotes,” “Jazz Trivia,” “Song Quiz,” “Deal or No Deal,” “True or False?” “20 Questions,” “Categories,” “Golden Ticket,” “Millionaire Quiz Game,” “Tic Tac Toe,” “Would You Rather” and “Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock.”
13.) Place Pizza Orders With Alexa Through The Domino’s Pizza Or Pizza Hut Skills
Using your Alexa device, you can place orders for pizza at Domino’s or Pizza Hut. Both Domino’s and Pizza Hut created Skills for the Alexa to place the orders. Just ask Alexa to enable the Domino’s and/or Pizza Hut Skill or activate it from your Alexa app or alexa.amazon.com. After that, you can say commands like “Alexa ask Pizza Hut to reorder” or “Alexa, ask Dominos to track my order.”
14.) Use Alexa As An Intercom
Did you know that you can use your Alexa device as an intercom? This is possible if you have multiple Alexa devices. If you want to make an announcement in your living room, then say “Alexa, drop in on the living room.”
15.) Have Alexa Cheer You Up
In case you are having a bad day, you can have Alexa cheer you up. This can be done by saying "Alexa, cheer me up."
16.) Connect A 3.5mm (Aux) Cable Into The Alexa Device
If you want to play audio from your mobile device or laptop through your Alexa device, then you can connect to it with a 3.5mm cable. The 3.5mm cable input is generally located at the back of the Alexa device next to the power cable.
17.) Customize Your Flash Briefing
You can customize your Flash Briefing by going to alexa.amazon.com. And then when you ask Alexa for a Flash Briefing or “Alexa, what’s new?” it will provide you with the top headlines based on how you customized it. This could be news headlines, the word of the day and the weather forecast.
18.) Connect Alexa To IFTTT
One of the best ways to get more use out of your Alexa device is by connecting it with If This Then That (IFTTT). IFTTT is a service that connects third-party services with each other. And within the IFTTT website, there is a section dedicated to Alexa.
When you connect two actions together, it becomes known as an Applet. A couple of my favorite IFTTT Applets for Alexa is the ability to add the songs played on Amazon Alexa to a Google Sheets spreadsheet and the ability to add tasks on the Reminders app on my iOS account by telling Alexa to do that.
19.) Use Kayak Skill To Figure Out Travel
Another handy Skill available on Alexa is Kayak. After you add the Kayak skill, you can say commands like “Alexa, where can I travel for $200?” or “How much will it cost to fly from Detroit to New York?”
20.) Setting Multiple Alarms
Alexa allows you to set multiple alarms. For example, you can say "Alexa, set a repeating alarm for 7AM every day." You can also use the words "weekdays" or "weekends" and Alexa will understand.
21.) Ask About Your Commute
You can configure Alexa to check your morning commute by asking “Alexa, how does my commute look?” Note: You will need to enter the location information for your traffic update on alexa.amazon.com or in the Alexa app under Settings > Traffic.
22.) Request An Uber Or Lyft
You can use Alexa to request an Uber or Lyft ride. Each of these services are available in the form of a Skill.
23.) Toss A Virtual Coin Or Dice
If you need help settling a dispute, Alexa can toss a virtual coin for you by saying "Alexa, toss a coin." Or you can have Alexa toss a dice for you if it is missing from your board game by saying "Alexa, roll a dice."
24.) Ask Alexa About Specific People
You can ask Alexa all sorts of questions about certain people such as:
- “How old is President Donald Trump?”
- “Where did Albert Einstein live?”
- “Who is the governor of Alaska?”
- “Who stars in Ant-Man?”
25.) Ask Alexa About Times And Dates
You can ask Alexa about certain dates and times. For example, you can say:
- "Alexa, when is St. Patrick's Day?"
- "Alexa, what time is it in Beijing?"
- "Alexa, what day of the week is Halloween?"
- "Alexa, how many days until the year 2020?"
26.) Ask Alexa About Currency
Alexa has a built-in currency converter. So you can say:
- "Alexa, how many Japanese Yen is $30?"
- "Alexa, how many nickels make $10?"
27.) Ask Alexa About Nutrition
If you are watching your diet, then you can ask Alexa to give you details about your meals. For example, you can say:
- "Alexa, how many calories are there in a piece of salmon?"
- "Alexa, how much sugar does a Pop Tart have?"
28.) Ask Alexa About Local Stores / Restaurants
If you are seeking information about local stores and restaurants, then you can ask Alexa questions about them. For example, you can say:
- “Alexa, what time is Kroger open until?”
- “Alexa, what is the address for Applebee’s?”
29.) Other Miscellaneous Commands
There are a number of other interesting commands that you should try out:
- “Alexa, what is the 5th Amendment”
- “Alexa, spell Mississippi”
- “Alexa, what is a random number between 1 and 100?”
- “Alexa, what is the value of pi?”
- “Alexa, what new features do you have?”
- “Alexa, up up down down left right left right b a start” (reference to classic video games)
- “Alexa, hello HAL” (reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey)
- “Alexa, the Dude abides” (reference to The Big Lebowski)
- “Alexa, sing a song”
- “Alexa, talk like Yoda”
- “Alexa, never going to give you up, never going to let you down” (reference to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”)
- “Alexa, find Chuck Norris”
- “Alexa, more cowbell” (reference to Saturday Night Live)
- “Alexa, sneeze”
- “Alexa, what is the Detroit Pistons score?”
30.) Force A Software Update
Alexa automatically checks for software updates every night. But there is a way to force an update by hitting the mute button and letting it sit for between 30 minutes and an hour. Once you turn off the mute button, the software should be updated.
