Amazon Alexa – and most other voice assistants, for that matter – was a new science fiction concept when it was first introduced in the mid-2010s. More than a decade later, it has become one of the essential smart home tech devices for homeowners. Alexa is especially helpful when you have a quick question that you can’t be bothered to look up with your phone, like “When does daylight savings start or “How many tablespoons are in a cup?” » Many people also use it to listen to music during the day and white noise at night, all with nothing more than a voice command.
With the hands-free convenience that Alexa offers, it’s no surprise that the service now has millions of users around the world. But being an omniscient assistant and voice-activated music player might not be enough to convince you to jump on the bandwagon. If you’re not sure if you really need Alexa in your home and daily routine, here are five nifty Alexa features that other users love that might just convince you.
Set a timer
You might be surprised to learn that one of Alexa’s features that users love the most is also one of its simplest features: setting a timer. It’s handy for all kinds of use cases, like making dinner or deciding when to automatically turn your fan on and off.
To start a timer on Alexa, all you have to do is say, “Alexa, set a timer for (a certain number of seconds/minutes/hours). » You are free to set multiple timers at the same time. But when doing so, it’s best to name each timer to easily distinguish them. For example, you might have an oven timer for two hours and a marinade timer for 30 minutes. Once a timer ends, Alexa will alert you which one is over. Besides standalone timers, Alexa also lets you pair timers with connected devices. You can say: “Turn on the lamp for 10 minutes” or “Turn off the air conditioner in an hour.”
While your timers are running, you can still interact with them through Alexa. You can ask how much time is left on your timer, pause or resume the timer, add or remove minutes or hours, or cancel it altogether. There’s also an option to do all of this from the Alexa app. Go to More and open Alarms & Timers. In the Timers tab, find the timer you want to pause, resume, or delete. But you can’t change the timer duration from the app.
Routines
Maybe you want Alexa to turn off the lights, turn on your air conditioner, and start your sleep playlist all at the same time. But issuing three separate voice commands seems like a lot of work. That’s why one of the essential Alexa tips and tricks that users love is using routines. Routines are a series of actions that Alexa automatically performs for you in response to a single command. Yes, it only takes one command to perform more than a simple action. Besides your voice, Routines can also be activated by other triggers: you can set them to start with the time of day, a signal from your smart home device, and the arrival or departure of a location.
The Alexa app offers several preset routines, so you won’t have to start from scratch. In the app, tap the Plus icon (next to the Ask Alexa text field) and choose Routines. Here you can browse several awesome options. For example, there is a routine that detects a baby’s crying and automatically plays lullabies to soothe him. You’ll also find a routine that turns on the lights, tells you the weather, and plays a song as soon as you turn off your morning alarm. If you’re in finance, Alexa has a routine that keeps you up to date on the stock market at the end of the day. Once you find the routine you like, tap it and tap Save to save it to your account.
If you prefer to create your own Alexa routine, go to the Your Routines tab instead. Next, tap Create Routine and fill in the required fields. If your routine is voice-activated, make the command smaller so it’s easier to remember. Once you’re done, try saying the command to see if the routine works as expected.
Third-party skills
Even though Alexa can do all sorts of things, she’s not all-powerful on her own. This requires a third-party integration called Alexa Skills to perform certain actions. These actions can either be standalone (no other devices needed except your Alexa device) or require a connected device (like your smart lamp or smart plug).
Skills also fall into different categories and use cases. For example, under Food & Drink, there’s the Alexa Recipe Keeper skill that connects the Recipe Keeper app to your Alexa device, allowing you to use voice commands to find recipes, listen to the ingredient list, and get verbal instructions. Under Shopping, you have the AnyList Alexa skill to create shopping lists, meal plans, and recipe lists. This also requires integration with the AnyList mobile app. Then, under Smart Home, you’ll find the iRobot Home Alexa skill, developed to control your Roomba and Braava vacuuming and mopping robots via Alexa voice commands.
Users particularly like Alexa Skills because they extend Alexa’s functionality far beyond its built-in features. However, Alexa doesn’t automatically have skills out of the box. To install certain Alexa skills on your device, follow these steps:
- In the Alexa app, tap the Plus icon.
- Tap Skills & Games.
- Find the skill you want to use. You can either enter a keyword in the search bar or select one of the categories at the top.
- Open the skill you like.
- Tap Enable to use.
You can then test the skill by saying one of the suggested voice commands. Make sure to use the command exactly as shown on the skill details page, as each skill supports a specific set of phrases. Saying a different command might not work.
Easter Egg Orders
If you’re a long-time Alexa user, you’re already pretty familiar with its main features: connecting with smart home devices, installing skills, and playing music. But besides these popular features, there are also lesser-known Alexa commands that users like to use when they get the chance. These Easter egg orders aren’t your typical hands-on requests. Instead, they’re quirky phrases that Alexa responds to in an equally cheeky way. These commands aren’t necessarily obvious to most people, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less fun to use. Here are some of these Alexa Easter eggs you can try:
- “Surely you can’t be serious.” Alexa says it’s actually serious, but asks you not to call her Shirley (get it?).
- “What is the Prime Directive?” Alexa responds with the Prime Directive from Star Trek.
- “Beat the burps out of the box.” Alexa lets out a burp to the beat of a drum machine and shows off all the other types of burps she can do.
- “Execute Order 66.” Another pop culture reference, but this time from Star Wars.
- “Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are nearby?” This is a reference to the Carpenters song “Close To You”, which Alexa responds to with the next line from the song.
- “What’s cooler than being cool?” Alaxa simply responds with “Ice!” »
There are many more Alexa Easter eggs available. Don’t hesitate to consult forums like Reddit.
Hands-free smart home control
With all the cheap Alexa devices you can buy on Amazon, it’s no surprise that hands-free smart home control is one of the Alexa features users love and use frequently. Of course, most smart home devices pair with a companion app where you can control them. But once you start buying from different brands, it’s not hard to feel weighed down by all the apps you have to deal with. To keep things simpler and more organized, you can instead integrate all devices into your Alexa ecosystem.
This eliminates the hassle of managing multiple apps while giving you much more flexibility in how you make your smart home devices work together the way you need them. For example, when you connect your devices to Alexa, you can then integrate them into your personalized Alexa routine. For example, one Reddit user mentioned that he uses Alexa to enable night mode on his smart home devices, which automatically locks the door, adjusts the thermostat, turns off the lights, and starts recording the security camera. Another user set up an Alexa routine that prepares the smart devices in their living room for watching movies and sports. Most users simply ask Alexa to control their smart home devices, like turning smart plugs on or off and opening garage doors.
Alexa supports a wide variety of smart home brands, including Amazon Echo, Ring, Blink, Kasa, and Philips Hue. You can add their devices to Alexa simply through the Alexa app. Just tap the light bulb icon at the bottom and tap the plus icon. Then follow the on-screen instructions to connect the two platforms.
