How to Use Alexa and Echo Voice-Control Speakers Better

Alexa is Amazon’s voice-controlled personal assistant that lives in smart speakers and displays. Using just voice commands, you can instruct it to play music, compile shopping lists, check the weather, fill you in on the news, play ocean sounds, play fart sounds, play games, and provide instructions for doing a full body stretch. It’s also like having an encyclopedia on speed dial, one that can deliver instant information about who won the 1968 Stanley Cup, what the current temperature is in Munich, and how to properly boil an egg. Once you get the hang of it, Alexa provides a seamless way to get something done quickly.

Alexa can also make it easy to keep in touch with loved ones through voice and video calling. And it can also be the center of a smart home, allowing you to turn smart devices on and off by using voice commands or by creating automated Schedules or Routines for your devices. That way you don’t ever have to worry again about turning the lights on or off, for instance, even when you’re not there. That may seem like a minor convenience at first, but it can be life-changing if you have a second home, for example, or if you or someone you live with has mobility issues.

Note that while Alexa was created by Amazon, which makes its own line of Alexa-enabled devices, you can also buy third-party devices that are Alexa-powered, including speakers, light switches, and more.

Although it’s impressive how well an inexpensive smart speaker can respond to human language, like a lot of technology Alexa isn’t perfect. It can miss or mishear requests or otherwise get discombobulated, sometimes triggering some interesting responses (including meowing). But you can help smooth the process in a few ways.

Consider your volume, your distance, and the speed of your speech. My son often gets mixed responses because, like a lot of teenagers, he talks too fast, and usually while eating. (Then I’m left to walk around the grocery store wondering why my digital shopping list says I need to pick up “gaana”). For best results, speak slowly, clearly, and in the direction of your smart speaker. Of course, this may not be an option for those with speech disorders. Amazon is working with companies to improve interactions, and companies such as Voiceitt are creating subscription-based add-ons that can aid day-to-day interactions with Alexa.

Alexa is always learning about a specific user’s speech patterns, but you can push that relationship a little quicker by creating a Voice Profile. A Voice Profile matches your speech with your name, helping to create a more personalized experience and distinguish you from other people in the house. To create a profile, say “Alexa, learn my voice” or launch the Alexa app, tap More in the bottom-right corner, and then tap Settings, Your Profile, Voice.

Once you’ve created a profile, the app provides the option for a training session, which asks you to repeat four different phrases. Alexa devices can store up to 10 Voice Profiles, but each user needs their own Alexa account. Once you’ve set up all of your profiles, return to the Your Voice section of the app and tap Match voice profiles. From there, you can match speakers to the right users so that Alexa will be able to recognize different voices, delivering personalized responses to requests.

Besides answering off-the-cuff trivia requests, telling you the weather, and playing podcasts, Alexa can be really good at keeping your life on track, if you’ll let it. Using Alexa commands and the app, you can create simple alarms, timers, and Reminders and take advantage of more sophisticated tricks such as Skills and smart-home device Routines.

Alarms, timers, and Reminders are pretty self-evident: Ask Alexa to set any one of those and specify an exact time or a time frame, and that’s it. Alexa Skills are more like apps for Alexa. If you want to play music, listen to a podcast, play games, or adjust your thermostat, for instance, you need to enable a Skill. You can launch some Skills just by saying something like “Alexa, play Song Quiz.” To launch Skills on a smart-home device (such as a thermostat or lights), you need to enable the Skill through the Alexa app and give permission by logging in to the account associated with that smart device. The process can be a pain if you don’t have all of your passwords handy (and that’s one of the many reasons we recommend using a password manager), but once a device is paired with a Skill, it generally works seamlessly.

Smart-home Routines are like recipes that let you automate one or more devices so that they work autonomously. For instance, you can create a Good Night Routine that might turn off all the lights in your house and turn down the thermostat whenever you say “Alexa, good night.” You might create a Routine to keep your kids on schedule (or just keep them in check). And you can create Routines that are triggered by other devices. For example, you can have smart bulbs turn off whenever an outdoor security camera detects motion. To create your perfect Routine, open the Alexa app, tap More at the bottom, and then select Routines. From there, tap the plus sign in the upper-right corner and follow the on-screen prompts to pick triggers and actions.

You can also use Alexa to help you sleep better by enabling rain sounds, ocean sounds, or any other sound you can possibly imagine (and creating a Routine to stop those sounds so they aren’t running all night).

Using voice commands is a terrifically convenient way to control your smart home, but the more devices you get, the more difficult it is for you and Alexa to keep everything straight. For instance, if you have two devices, one named “Bedroom 1 Light” and the other named “Bedroom 2 Light,” Alexa is bound to get confused on occasion. Help Alexa out by going into the Alexa app and putting all your smart-home devices in Groups, which you can create by room or function, and be sure to give each device a unique (and recallable) name like Panic Room or Den.

In Accenture’s 2019 Digital Consumer Survey (PDF), 41% of surveyed smart-speaker owners said they had concerns about privacy. It’s true that Alexa never stops listening, but despite rumors you may have heard, Alexa isn’t recording everything you say—though it does sometimes mistakenly grab snippets of conversation not meant for it. (You can review and choose to delete stored recordings in the Alexa app by tapping Settings, Alexa Privacy, Review Voice History—or just by saying “Alexa, delete all voice recordings said today.”) There are a few other things you can do to ensure your privacy and also keep recorded conversations to a minimum.

Consider whether the room where you intend to put a speaker is appropriate. For instance, if you have confidential business dealings, you should keep Alexa out of your office space. Just to be safe, we wouldn’t place a video-enabled Echo Show in a bedroom. And although Alexa is great for checking in on kids or calling the family to dinner via the intercom feature, some people may be uncomfortable having Alexa in a vulnerable spot such as a bathroom or their kids’ rooms. (Either way, be sure to read Amazon’s Children’s Privacy Disclosure.) Instead, you might opt for a more central spot such as the living room or a hallway. Also, putting Alexa in the kitchen or dining area allows it to keep you company during marathon cooking sessions or add musical accompaniment to mealtimes.

Still worried that Alexa is listening to specific conversations? Every Alexa device has a mute button for the microphone, and camera-enabled devices add a switch to open and close the camera shutter. Of course, you could also unplug yours; Alexa devices reconnect pretty easily and quickly.