Are you the proud new owner of an Amazon Echo, or are you planning to buy one but are unsure what you can do with it? Amazon’s Alexa-powered speakers and smart displays can do more than check the weather and set the alarm. Check out the top Amazon Echo and Echo Show tips and tricks below, guaranteed to make your life better.
1. Teach your Amazon Echo to whisper
There’s no need to shout at Alexa, as it can pick up just about anything. Similarly, if you want your Echo or Echo Show to respond quietly, you can easily tweak a few settings. You can whisper to the smart speaker/display, and it can respond softly as well. This ensures you won’t get undue attention when asking Alexa to change the music or turn on the smart lights. Before your Echo device can whisper back, you must enable the appropriate mode.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Go to the More tab.
- Tap Settings.
- Scroll down to Alexa Preferences.
- Select Voice Responses.
- Enable the Whisper mode toggle.
If you’ve recently received your first Alexa-powered smart speaker, there are some essential Amazon Echo tips to get the most out of it.
2. Use your Amazon Echo to track your food delivery status
You can use your Echo or Echo Show to track your food delivery status. You can even use Alexa to order food directly from your favorite restaurant. This is one of our favorite Echo features, but it requires slightly more work to enable.
For this, you must enable the appropriate Alexa skill from the food delivery service provider in your region.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the More tab located in the bottom navigation bar.
- Tap Skills & Games.
- Scroll down to Top Categories.
- Select the Food & Drink option.
- Find the skill from your food delivery service provider that lets you track the order status.
- Tap the relevant Alexa skill.
- Select Launch.
- Link your food delivery service with your Amazon account.
Once the linking is complete, you can ask your Echo where the food you ordered is located.
You can use Alexa on your Echo to track stuff you ordered from Amazon. This is a relatively straightforward process. Just say, “Alexa, track my order,” or “Alexa, where’s my stuff?” The voice assistant reviews your recent Amazon shopping history and provides a status update on its whereabouts.
Get rid of the random sticky notes and let your Echo create your shopping list. The list is accessible from the Amazon or Alexa app on your phone, so you won’t have to be near your Echo to know what items to buy.
Add items to the shopping list using your Echo or Echo Show by saying, “Alexa, add [item name] to my shopping list.” You can also remove items in a snap by saying, “Alexa, check off [item name] from the shopping list.”
The best part about Amazon shopping lists is that you can create multiple lists that you always have on you. So, if you are shopping for your wedding, you can create a separate Wedding shopping list.
Follow the steps below to access the shopping list from your phone:
- Open the Alexa app.
- Tap More from the bottom of the screen.
- Select Lists.
- Select the list you want to access. You can see all the items added to the shopping list.
- Add or remove items from the list if you want.
The shopping list is also accessible from the Lists section of the Amazon app.
4. Use your Amazon Echo to find your phone
The next time you can’t find your phone under the couch cushions, Alexa can help. Just ask your Echo to “find my phone.” Alexa will call your phone to make it ring.
The Alexa app must be installed and set up on your device for the feature to work. It won’t work if your phone is on silent or vibrate, but this is still better than asking your friend or family member to call you so that you can search for your phone.
5. Control your TV using your Amazon Echo smart speaker
Ditch the remote control and let your Amazon Echo or Echo Show take control of your TV. You can ask Alexa to play your favorite show on Prime Video on your living room TV, switch it on and off, and more.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the More tab in the bottom navigation drawer.
- Scroll down and select TV & Video.
- Select your TV or streaming device from the list of supported service providers.
- Link Alexa to the service provider. The linking process can vary depending on the supported service.
- If you have multiple Alexa devices, link the TV to one of them.
You can continue to use Alexa on other Echo devices to control your TV.
Once linked, you can ask Alexa on your Echo speaker or smart display to “turn on/off the TV,” “play The Boys on Prime Video,” “change the TV input to HDMI 2,” and more.
6. Use the Amazon Echo Show as a security camera
Your Echo Show can double up as a security camera. You can watch the live feed from its camera on your phone or any other Echo Show connected to your Amazon account.
A message appears on the Echo Show’s display when you use it for monitoring purposes, so it is not a traditional security camera replacement.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap Devices in the bottom navigation bar.
- Slide on the list of device types and select Cameras.
- Tap the Echo Show from which you want to view the live feed.
- Enable the microphone by tapping the Mic button.
- Turn on the Speaker to speak to anyone in the room.
7. Combine your Amazon Echos for multiroom music playback
If you have multiple Echo speakers or smart displays in your home, you can combine them for multiroom music playback. This allows you to stream music over multiple speakers, so you can continue to enjoy listening to music as you move about your home.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap Devices in the bottom navigation bar.
- Tap the + icon in the upper-right corner.
- Select the Combine speakers option.
- Tap Multi-room music.
- Select the speakers you’d like to add to the multiroom setup.
- Give the group of speakers a name.
- Tap Done to complete the process.
Once everything is set up, say, “Alexa, play music on [group name]” to trigger multiroom music playback. You can also set up multiple groups this way with different sets of speakers.
A multiroom music group called “Everywhere” is created by default when you have multiple Echo speakers. This allows you to simultaneously trigger music playback on all of them without having to set up multiroom audio.
8. Make Alexa talk faster or slower on your Amazon Echo
Do you have trouble keeping up with Alexa on your Echo because the assistant speaks too fast? Or maybe you want Alexa to speak faster because you find it too slow? You can adjust Alexa’s voice playback by saying, “Alexa, speak slower” to slow down the voice assistant’s pace of speech. Similarly, you can ask Alexa to “speak faster.”
There are seven speed settings for Alexa. Every time you issue the command to speed up or slow down the speaking rate, it increases or decreases by one notch. So, you can say the command multiple times to further speed up or slow down Alexa’s speech rate.
9. Create a Voice ID
Unlike smartphones, Amazon Echo-like smart displays and speakers are meant to be used by everyone in a family. If multiple people use Amazon Echo, create a unique Voice ID for each person. This allows Alexa to recognize them better and show personalized information relevant to them. Every person can then add products to their Amazon wishlist and make purchases from their account.
Follow the steps below to set up Voice ID:
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap the More tab in the bottom navigation drawer.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Your Profile & Family.
- Tap your profile name. You must be logged in to your account to create the Voice ID.
- Select Set up Voice ID from the settings page that opens.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to create your unique voice profile for Alexa.
Once set up, the profile automatically syncs to the other Echo devices linked to your Amazon account.
It is possible to create a Voice ID for a Kids profile in Alexa.
10. Change the Alexa wake word
You don’t always have to shout “Alexa” to wake up Amazon’s voice assistant on your Echo device. Amazon provides a few other wake-word options. Changing the wake word for your Amazon Echo device is relatively simple but requires you to dig deep into the Settings menu.
- Open the Alexa app on your phone.
- Tap Devices from the navigation bar at the bottom.
- Tap Echo & Alexa.
- Select your Echo device.
- Tap the Settings icon in the upper-right corner.
- From the Device settings page, select Wake Word.
- Select the wake word that you like. Amazon sometimes offers celebrity wake words for Echo devices. They appear at the bottom of the page under the Celebrity Wake Word section.
If your Echo device has trouble understanding you, there are a few tips and tricks to help Alexa hear you better.
Wake word changes are device specific, so they don’t affect other Echo devices linked to your account.
Let Alexa be your gateway to smart home features
With the above tips and tricks, you’ll get the most out of your Echo or Echo Show. And if you’re considering buying a new Echo, there are a few different models you can choose from, like the Echo Dot, the Echo with Clock, and the Echo Kids model. Amazon offers Alexa-powered devices in various form factors, so you’ll easily find the one that suits your requirements.
