Amazon Echo is undoubtedly one of the best portable wireless speakers available today. It has so many features making Amazon Echo worth buying and enjoying. Let’s not talk about what is Amazon Echo and what makes it better than other speakers. Let’s talk about some tips and tricks worth knowing and getting the best out of your Echo.
5 Amazon Echo Tips and Tricks You Should Know
1. Stop Amazon Echo from listening for its wake word / Mute the wake word
Alexa is Amazon Echo’s artificial personal assistant like Apple’s Siri. Echo is always listening to your voice for its wake work ‘Alexa’. When it hear you say “Alexa”, it responds to what you say afterward.
If for any reason, you want to stop Amazon Echo from listening and responding to anything including the wake work, you can do so by simply pressing the mute button on top of it. Press the mute button again and it will start listening to you again.
2. Find out Which Profile is in Use / How to Switch Profiles
Amazon Echo supports multiple Amazon profiles. You can set profiles by visiting http://echo.amazon.com. To find out which profile is currently in use, ask “Alexa, which profile am I using?”
To switch between profiles, say “Alexa, switch profile” and it will switch to the next available profile. You can also say “Alexa, switch to Jeff’s profile” to make it switch to Jeff’s profile. Use your name instead of Jeff.
3. Control Your Smarthome Device
Not only your speaker is getting smart, so many of your household devices are getting smart as well. You can control such (supported) Smarthome devices like Philips Hue lights using Amazon Echo with your voice.
After compatible devices are setup, you can give commands like “Alexa, turn on [device name]” to turn on that device. You can also use a command like “Alexa, set brightness to [number] percent” which will set the light’s brightness to the number (30 for example) you said.
You can also create a group of devices (like Bedroom Lights) to control all devices in a group at the same time. Say “Alexa, turn on/off Bedroom Lights” and your Bedroom Lights will turn on/off.
Tip: Find out supported Smarthome Devices on Amazon.
Learn more about setting up device groups.
4. Make Alexa Repeat After You
You can make Amazon Echo repeat what you say. Say “Alexa, Simon says..” followed by what you want Echo to repeat. If you say “Alexa, Simon says.. I love photography” and Alexa will repeat saying “I love photography”.
5. Ask Alexa to Repeat an Answer
If you couldn’t get what Alexa said at the first time, you can ask it to repeat the last response. Say “Alexa, can you repeat that?” and Alexa will repeat the last response it gave, without obligation.
Bonus: Fun Easter Egg commands
Alexa responds to many Easter eggs. Go ahead and keep trying anything you may think of. Get as silly as you can or ask Alexa anything -like laws of robotics for example, and Alexa will answer you.
There’s a Reddit thread which lists out discovered Easter eggs. You might want to try them all and add your own there as well. It’s fun.
P.S.: Don’t own an Amazon Echo yet? Go ahead and grab one. Echo is sure a speaker you’ll enjoy not only for its sound but for its features and capabilities. Find out more on Amazon.
Have more Amazon Echo Tips and Tricks? Please share with us!
