Amazon is everywhere these days, so it makes sense that they would now have a presence in your home. Many people have smart speakers at home, but Amazon Alexa is our absolute favorite brand. Why? Well, there are so many cool things it can do!
The Amazon Alexa is an incredibly versatile, useful, and adorable device…and you definitely need one in your home.
Here are seven nifty things you didn’t know your Amazon Alexa could do.
Call and Leave Messages
If you have more than one Alexa device in your home, or if you have the Amazon Alexa app installed on your phone, you can actually communicate between your devices.
This feature allows you to call and leave messages on other devices that are on your same Wi-Fi network. This is a great way to communicate with somebody who is on a different level of the house.
The feature works similarly to placing a cell phone call, where the intended recipient can either answer or decline the call. If the call is declined, the calling Alexa device can leave a message on the recipient Alexa device for them to listen to later. In the same manner, text messages and drop-in messages can also be sent utilizing Alexa’s voice calling feature.
The best news? Using Alexa’s calling feature doesn’t utilize cell phone plan minutes! So, save your minutes for when you’re out and about, and use this feature to tell your kids that it’s dinner time. Yes, please!
Play Games
Did you know that your Amazon Alexa is equipped with lots of fun games? We love using this feature when we’re prepping dinner or have friends over, because Alexa does the heavy carrying!
One of our favorite Amazon Alexa games is Song Quiz. With this game, you’ll be given little five-second clips of songs and asked to guess the name of the song and the recording artist. Whomever gets the most correct guesses, wins!
Guard Your Home
Don’t want to shell out the money for an annual subscription to Ring or SimpliSafe? We don’t blame you!
Luckily, your Amazon Alexa has you covered. Amazon Alexa offers a “Guard Mode,” which will alert you if there are sounds of broken glass, fire alarms, or smoke alarms.
To enable “Guard Mode,” you’ll need to set it up in your internal Amazon Alexa app and give it a cue to let it know you want your home to be guarded, such as: Alexa, guard my home. Once you say this command, Alexa will officially enter Guard Mode!
If there are any sounds of glass breaking or an alarm going off, your Alexa device will send a notification to your phone. You can review the sound recording to see what’s really going on. You also have the opportunity to “drop in” on your Amazon Alexa device to listen to the current sounds that are happening. Safety first!
Practice a New Language or Skill
Trying to learn a new language? Your Amazon Alexa can help with that! To start, you’ll need to tell your Amazon Alexa to download a new skill. Skills are apps that are available on the Amazon Alexa store, and they cover a wide breadth of subjects and topics.
To practice or learn a new language, we recommend downloading the Daily Dose by Innovative Language skill. Daily Dose allows you to choose from over 30 different languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. Daily Dose helps you learn by giving you short lessons via your Alexa, and by teaching you a “Word of the Day.” Can you say Bonjour?!
Get in Shape
Did you know that your Amazon Alexa can actually help you get in shape? Our two favorite Alexa skills to use to do so are MyFitnessPal and Fitness Thirty.
MyFitnessPal is a skill that allows you to verbally log various health items such as your steps, calories, and water. Your Alexa will keep track of everything you tell it, so at any point during the day, you can ask your Alexa where you’re at for the day. Keep track of those stats, girl!
Fitness Thirty is a skill that helps you tone and exercise your body with a spare thirty seconds. Tell your Alexa which body part you want to focus on (i.e. chest or abs) and it will give you a twenty-five second workout to complete before a five-second rest period. Talk about multitasking!
Up Your Cooking Game
We’re obsessed with the “Ingredient Sub” skill that Amazon Alexa offers, because it’s so useful when cooking up a storm in the kitchen! With this skill, you can ask your Amazon Alexa for ingredient substitutions when you don’t know what else to use. For example, if you ask your Amazon Alexa what you can use as an egg substitute, it will give you a plethora of different options to use—which is really handy when you’re cooking!
Another useful way your Amazon Alexa can help you while in the kitchen is by giving you measurement conversions! So, if you’ve ever needed to know how many tablespoons are in a cup (16) or how many cups are in a gallon (also 16), you’re in luck! You can ask your Alexa to answer these questions for you, hands-free, so you don’t have to interrupt your cooking flow. Sounds good to us!
Become a Music Master
One of our favorite features of the Alexa is the fact that it allows you to control your music, hands-free. You can ask your Amazon Alexa to play you a random playlist, or you can sync it with your favorite music apps like Spotify or Amazon Music. Time to move it and groove it!
So, there you have it! Seven nifty things you didn’t know your Amazon Alexa could do. Alexa, play “Don’t Stop Me Now!” by Queen.
