How many Amazon Echo devices are sold throughout the year? How many of them are a gift? Presumably, the number must be very high, so it is more than likely that many users and even you yourself are taking your first steps with Alexa right now . If so, these are the basic settings and some other functionality that you should know to quickly get the most out of it.
How to set up your Amazon Echo with Alexa, app or web?
After connecting your new Amazon Echo , the first thing you should do is configure it and associate it with your user account to be able to enjoy all those advantages that having it customized to your own needs offers. Without forgetting the benefits of being able to allow access to other third-party services.
To start any Amazon Echo, the simplest solution is to download the Alexa application for your mobile phone . An app that is available for both iOS and Android and that you will only have to search in their respective stores.
Once you have it, you just have to go to the devices section and add the new device that you want to configure to have control through Alexa. On that same screen you can also add other smart devices such as light bulbs, plugs, locks, surveillance cameras, etc.
However, in addition to the application, from the web you can also access all the configuration settings of Alexa and your Amazon Echo, if you have more than one. To do this, you just have to go to the Alexa website . In a web interface you will have all the application settings. It may not be as visual or you feel more comfortable with the app, but knowing that this possibility exists can get you out of trouble when you are away from your main device.
Where do you want to listen to music?
If you are an Amazon Prime user, you should know that this is the only reason you have access to Amazon Music . Of course, the catalog is limited to a number of specific songs, if you want more you would have to pay for Amazon Music Unlimited. Although radio stations are always a good option to listen to music to suit your tastes.
To use this, once you have linked your Amazon account with your Amazon Echo, you just have to ask it “Alexa, play music from …” and it will automatically start one of these stations based on that group, artist or song.
Of course, it is also possible that you already pay for a music service like Spotify or Apple Music. If so, not only will you be able to configure them on your Amazon Echo to enjoy its entire music catalog, you can also choose it as the default service. So every time you ask for music, it will do so through that option.
To do this, from the app or the web, access the settings and in the music section you will see at the end of the whole the option to choose the default music service. If you want it to be Spotify, selected. And if, on the other hand, you prefer another one, then simply change it.
Alexa, play this podcast
Podcasts are, along with music, one of the main content listened to through these smart speakers. In recent months Alexa has been gaining support for various platforms, so as with music, all you have to do is set up your favorite service.
In some cases you will have to install your own s kill , but it is as simple as going to the Amazon website and looking for it there and activating it. Once you have it, log in if necessary to access your subscription and that’s it. Your favorite podcasts now also on your Amazon Echo.
Create a custom voice profile
Voice profiles are nothing more than a kind of fingerprint, but based on your own voice. Alexa is analyzing your way of speaking, tone, etc., to have the ability to identify you when you do.
Why is this important? Well, to start with, to be more precise in everything that refers to your recommendations. If you ask him for music, it is easier for him to guess the more information he has about your tastes, what you usually listen to, etc. But it is not the only thing, in the face of purchases it is also important.
With your Amazon Echo and Alexa you can also make purchases within Amazon. The same is not what you are going to use the most, but it is worth knowing that no one a priori could ask for something that you do not want. However, by default the shopping theme is not active.
To create your own voice profile you just have to go to the Alexa application, here if you need your devices if you want to use their microphones to say the phrases that will serve as the first step in this entire profile creation process.
So, in summary, this is what you should do:
- Open the Alexa app
- Go to the Settings menu
- Select Account Settings
- Select Recognized voices .
- Select Create a voice profile , then select Continue
Ready, once you have it, after a while you can ask “Alexa, who am I?” And if he says your name, he recognizes you perfectly.
How to buy by voice thanks to Alexa
As we told you before, your Amazon Echo with Alexa is also a direct door to purchases within the Amazon store. Of course, you have to activate the option to buy by voice. Something as simple as performing the following steps:
- Open the Alexa app
- Enter the setup menu
- Now select Account Settings
- Buy by voice
- There activate or deactivate depending on what you want
Just an extra tip, activate the code by voice or what would come to be a PIN code to guarantee a necessary confirmation if you want to carry out the purchase. This is done from the app again:
- Open the Alexa app
- Enter configuration
- Then to Account Settings
- Buy by voice
- And there activate Code by voice
Now, you can buy by voice using Alexa and securely both by the profile created and by the security code.
What do you have to do today?
If you are one of those who strictly dump any event that you have in your online calendar, with Alexa you will be able to have a summary of everything you have scheduled for today. All you have to do is give him access to that information.
To do this, you just have to go to the Alexa application> Settings> Calendar and there configure the service you use and be compatible with those supported by Amazon’s voice assistant: Google Calendar, iCloud, Microsoft Exchange.
A question of skills (Skills)
Alexa skills are nothing more than small programs that provide new skills to the Amazon assistant and those speakers compatible with it. Depending on the speaker, in this case the Amazon Echo model you have, you can choose one or the other with greater or lesser comfort (for example, the Amazon Echo integrates Zigbee switchboard and that allows you to avoid needing a bridge to connect to smart bulbs such as Philips ones), but basically you can use them in all of them.
These skills can be found by visiting the Alexa website and we already tell you that there are many. Some it is true that they are uninteresting, but others on the contrary are those that will give you the option to enjoy very varied platforms, access news, alerts, games and much more. So you just have to dig a little through their catalog with patience and try.
The installation of these skills is as simple as clicking the Activate button that you will see on the web or the application.
Use your Amazon Echo as a Bluetooth speaker
In the event that you need to use your Amazon Echo as a normal Bluetooth speaker, you will be able to do so. Enter the application or the Alexa website and go to devices. Once you have selected the one you want to use, in case you have several, click on settings. Now follow these steps:
- Click on Bluetooth
- Tap on Pair a new device
- In the Bluetooth configuration options of your computer or mobile device, click on search for new devices
- When your Amazon Echo appears, click on link
- Ready
Easy right? All you have to know is which menu you have to go to in order to activate this visible mode that will allow you to configure it as another speaker.
No Alexa, better Echo or Amazon
The Amazon voice assistant can be renamed. If you are tired of hearing videos where they pronounce it and that makes it activate, you will be able to select to call it either Echo or Amazon.
To do this you just have to do this:
- Open the Alexa app
- Select settings from the side menu and then Device Settings
- Select the Echo device you want to configure with another activation command
- Select Alexa, Echo or Amazon
- Ready
From now on, for the assistant to “wake up” you will have to say that word instead of the classic Alexa. This can be useful if you have multiple speakers relatively close together and it bothers you that both are listening. Or that one is yours and the other belongs to a relative or person who lives with you.
Do not disturb mode
Alexa also incorporates its own Do Not Disturb Mode that you can configure according to your needs. For example, if during a certain interval you do not want any type of notification or the like to interrupt you, you can go to Settings and after selecting the Amazon Echo that you want to configure with that mode, select the start and end time. It is an option similar to that of mobile phones, only for the Amazon voice assistant. What is important to know is that the alarms and timers will sound.
But doesn’t Alexa only interact when we talk to her? Yes, but Amazon’s voice assistant and its Echo Show also offer other options, such as Drop-In that allows you to make calls between devices , send voice messages, etc. Those are the interruptions you can avoid with this mode.
Create Digital Home groups
The smart home groups that you can create in Alexa with different devices, such as multiple speakers, are very interesting. Because just by giving the proper order, music can play throughout the house or perform a series of actions that affect several devices at the same time and avoid going one by one.
These Smart Home groups are created just like that:
- Go to the Devices menu
- Tap on the + icon
- Select the appropriate option: add device, add group, configure multi-room music or configure audio system
- Once you have selected add group, assign a name and click to save
- The next step is to select the devices that will be part of it
So now it’s just wondering how you can take advantage of these groups to get more out of your connected devices.
Turn on Alexa whisper mode
Finally, although there are many more things you can do with Alexa, it is interesting that you activate the whisper mode. Thanks to this you will be able to speak softly to him when you don’t want to bother anyone and the voice assistant will respond to you in the same way. Ideal for setting an alarm when you go to sleep, turning off the lights, etc.
This mode can be activated by whispering directly to Alexa or by requesting it with the command “Alexa, activate whisper mode”. You can also go to the application and in the Alexa preferences, within Voice responses, activate whisper mode.
Alexa and your new Amazon Echo, a whole universe to discover
As you can see, there are many and varied things that you will be able to do with your voice assistant. It is important that you do not limit yourself to the basics that you see everywhere and try things, imagine whether or not it would be possible to perform a specific action. Only then can you get the most out of it.
And as tips, when you go to interact do it naturally . Ask him for anything that happens, if possible he will do it and it will surprise you. And if it is not, it will tell you and you will know that for now nothing at all. But if not, despite the fact that we tell you everything you can ask Alexa, there will always be new things that will be incorporated into your day-to-day operation.
Finally, information that can be very useful if you are new to Alexa. The Amazon Echos incorporate a circular LEC that changes color. Depending on the color, the message is different, so it never hurts to know what this light code of the Amazon Echo means.
