HelpfulHome
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Reviews
  • How To’s
  • Helpful Home Tips
  • Just For Fun
Helpful Home
Home Helpful Home Tips

Amazon Alexa app: Communication tips and tricks

Helpful Home Staff by Helpful Home Staff
February 4, 2020
Reading Time: 3 min
Image of a smartphone with the Amazon Alexa app open and displaying on the screen.
85
SHARES
276
VIEWS

Amazon Alexa is arguably one of the most advanced and helpful AI assistants on the market. I for one call on Alexa daily to control the lights and thermostat in my home. But there’s more to Alexa than just switching off the lights when you’re ready for bed. There are a number of ways you can use the Amazon Alexa app to communicate with your family and friends. Here they are:

Use the Alexa app to call friends and family through Skype.

Screenshot of the Amazon Alexa app Skype screen. A man and toddler are talking to a woman through an Echo Show via Skype.

To enable Skype calling through the Alexa app you’ll need to link your Microsoft account. You can link your account through the Alexa app.

Screenshot of the Amazon Alexa app communication screen. There is an option to chose Skype to communicate.

Once you’ve linked Skype to Alexa, you can begin calling making Skype-to-Skype calls, including voice and video calling to Amazon Echo speakers and displays. To get you started, Skype gives you 200 free minutes of calling to 34 countries.

Send a voice or text message to one of your contacts

Screenshot of the Amazon Alexa App text and voice messaging screen.

You can send text messages directly from the Alexa app. Alexa will then read your message out loud to the recipient through their Echo device.

Sending a voice message is just as easy. Simply press the mic icon at the bottom right corner of the messaging screen to begin recording. Your recording can then be played to the recipient through thier Echo device. The Alexa app will also transcribe your message to facilitate communication.

Drop in through the Echo devices in your home

The Drop In feature lets you connect instantly to any Echo devices registered to your account. It works similar to a two-way intercom system. You can use Drop In to have a conversation with someone at home, or listen in on the doggo while you’re away.

Make an annoucement

Alexa Announcements allows you to broadcast a text or voice message to all Echo devices in your home at once. Annoucements are disticnt from all other Alexa communication options as you cannot select a specific contact or Echo device to send your message to.

Use annoucements to annouce throughout the house that dinner is ready or to send a friendly reminder to everyone that it’s time to wake up and get ready to take on the day!

The communication options available in the Alexa app are a convenient way to stay in touch from your smartphone to any Echo device. I’ve found this feature to be very helpful in managing my family’s day-to-day routine. I hope these tips help you get the most out of the Amazon Alexa app.

If you haven’t yet downloaded the Alexa app, you can use one of the links below:

Apple App Store download icon
Google Play Store download icon

For help with setting up an Echo device, check out another of my recent articles How to set up Amazon Echo: The ultimate guide.

Related Posts

Flume 2 product image
Helpful Home Tips

Flume 2 Smart Home Water Monitor: Detect leaks and reduce your home water use

November 1, 2020

From speakers to microwaves with Alexa built-in, there's no shortage of smart home products on the market. While smart home speakers are great for checking the weather or controlling your lights, devices like the Flume 2 Smart Home Water...

Sense Energy Monitor
Helpful Home Tips

Sense Energy Monitor: Track your home energy use in real time

October 29, 2020

With energy rates on the rise, and growing demand taking a toll on the environment, there's a need for new and innovate ways to help us curb our energy usage. The introduction of smart metering in the early 2000's...

Amazon PillPack Pharmacy
Helpful Home Tips

Get your meds the easy way with PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy

October 25, 2020

Amazon’s lineup of products and services recently expanded to include a new complimentary sorting and delivery service for your medications. Amazon's PillPack is a service that bundles and sorts your medications, vitamins, and supplements into small convenient packs that...

Philips Hue Halloween lights
Helpful Home Tips

Make Halloween extra spooky with these Philips Hue light tricks

October 25, 2020

Halloween is right around the corner, and as many of us look for creative ways to decorate, there's no better time to use smart home tech to make your home extra scary. With Philips Hue lights you can enhance...

Discussion about this post

Popular Articles

  • How does Amazon Fresh work? Your guide to Amazon grocery delivery services

    496 shares
    Share 259 Tweet 99
  • Beyond Smart Home Technology: Enhancing the Helpful Home With Machine Learning

    76 shares
    Share 186 Tweet 83
  • How to set up your Amazon Echo Wall Clock

    284 shares
    Share 114 Tweet 71
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About
  • Privacy
  • How we test

© 2021 Helpful Home. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Reviews
  • How To’s
  • Helpful Home Tips
  • Just For Fun