With the latest technologies and innovations infiltrating your lives, it has become really convenient to carry out activities like never before. Take the example of Alexa, voice assistant from Amazon; you can easily interact with it and get search results faster.
In fact, there are so many different ways you can interact with this amazing voice assistant using the Echo, Echo Studio, Echo Dot, Echo Look, Echo Show, Echo Flex, Amazon Fire TV, and Dash Wand. Using these, you would wonder that you are talking to Alexa more often than others.
As the demand for voice search methods is increasing, the list of Alexa commands is also expanding rapidly. But let’s get started with how you can summon Alexa.
How to Summon Alexa?
All the connected speakers of Amazon use the same default wake word. So, you need to say “Alexa” in order to queue up your request. However, you can also change the default wake word by choosing Echo, Amazon, or Computer.
If you own a Dash Wand, voice remote of Amazon Fire TV, or Amazon Tap, all you need to do in order to get started is by pressing a button and Alexa will be there to help you out. Amazon also has updated Amazon Tap and made it hands-free; you can enable through the settings. Amazon Tap uses a single wake word that is Alexa.
At the beginning of this year, Amazon also added a new feature known as “Follow-Up Mode”. It makes easy for you to issue a number of commands with no need to repeat its wake word. Furthermore, Amazon also had built a multiple command feature that you can utilize to execute two different but related commands as one. For example, you can say – “Alexa, play pop music at volume seven in amazon.”
Do you know…
You can use Alexa in other ways than your Echo Speaker or a speaker from a third-party. So, what are those other ways? Let’s find out!
• Alexa application on Android or iOS devices
• The shopping app of Amazon
• Amazon’s Music app
• Cortana from a Windows PC
So, let’s take a sneak peek at the list of Alexa commands so far.
Alexa Commands so far
The list of commands of Amazon’s Alexa keeps on expanding as it supports a new device or service. Alexa can understand natural language, though not perfectly, but in a pretty impressive way. So, the native commands of Alexa are as follows:
Basic Commands:
• Starting a conversation
• Mute or unmute
• Asking for help
• Stop or pause
• Change Volume
Bluetooth
• Pairing devices
• Connecting to a device
• Disconnecting
Calling and messaging
Amazon introduced these features between Echo speakers in 2017. Later, it introduced Drop In, another feature to call Echo devices intercom style throughout a home. This year features like sending voice text messages and announcements are added. The commands are:
• Calling and messaging another Echo device
• Answering incoming calls
• Hang up
• Play messages
• Send SMSs
• Using Drop In on your device and calling it with other devices using Drop In
• Turning off video during a call
• Making announcements
• Number checking
Commands for Echo Show
Amazon’s Echo Show, as well as Echo Spot both of them, have touchscreen display which is not supported in other Echo speakers. So, you can ask these speakers to show you something.
• Asking what it can display
• Asking to show calendar
• Display pictures
• Viewing movie trailers
• Viewing other rooms or their cameras
• Movie showtimes
• Viewing some Forecasts
• Playing videos from YouTube
• View recipes
• Display flash Briefing
• Displaying timers
• Opening some visual skills
Date & Time
• Setting an alarm
• Setting a music alarm
• Repeating alarm
• Setting a timer
• Creating named timers
• Setting multiple timers
• Checking timer status
• Cancelling a timer
• Asking the time or date
• Asking about the next alarm
• Cancelling an alarm
• Snoozing an alarm
Entertainment
• Finding movies in a nearby theatre
• Getting information about a movie
• Getting movie quotes
• Getting IMDb ratings for a movie
• Getting information about a movie or show casting
• Finding out the actor in a movie
• Getting the information about the latest work of an actor
• Finding the artist of a song
• Getting sample music
• Finding a song or album
Food & Business
• Getting a recipe
• Discovering nearby restaurants
• Finding information about a local business like opening hours, phone number, etc.
• Checking the best wine available nearby
Fire TV & Fire TV Stick
To control them, you can use a compatible Echo device such as Echo, Echo Look, Echo Dot, etc. commands are:
• Controlling the Amazon Fire TV like play, pause, stop, resume, rewind, fast-forward, etc.
• Searching TV or movies with its title
• Search work by a particular actor by taking the actor’s name
• Open an app
• Return home
Fire TV Edition for televisions
• Turn the TV on/off
• Changing the volume
• Mute or unmute Fire TV
• Channel changing
• Changing inputs or switching
• Opening program guide
Holidays
• Finding and learning about a holiday
• Holiday limerick
• Asking about Santa or his reindeer
• Tracking Santa
• Asking to sing a carol
• Asking for holiday movies and jokes
Mathematics
• Converting units
• Basic and advanced math
Media Controls
• Adjusting audio settings
• Playing music on single or multiple devices of Alexa
• Queue specific artist or song
• Playing a song as per a context by naming the lyrics or band name
• Playing music as per a theme like rock music, pop music, etc.
• Song of the day
• Play music on Spotify
• Playing Pandora Station or radio station
• Playing an audiobook
• Resuming the last audiobook played
• Skipping audiobook chapters
• Playing a bedtime story
• Making it read a book
• Asking to set a timer for sleep
• Song information
• Music controls like next or play
• Controlling music playing on another speaker of Alexa
• Restart a song
• Adding a song
• Creating a playlist and adding songs on Amazon Music
• Like or dislike songs on iHeartRadio or Pandora
• Starting Amazon Music Unlimited free trial
• Setting alarm with music from Spotify, Pandora, etc.
Notifications
Enable notification from the settings of an Alexa app. When you receive a new notification, the Echo speakers light up. Commands are:
• Checking missed notifications
• Navigating through received notifications
• Deleting notifications
Purchasing
• Reordering essential stuff from Amazon
• Tracking packages
• Ordering another Alexa device
• Adding items into the shopping cart
• Requesting a ride from a travel app like Uber
• Buying a song or album from Amazon Music
• Asking about deals
• Asking for a recommendation on buying a product
Settling a score
• Rolling a die
• Flipping a coin
• Picking a number
Spellings and Definitions
• Getting the spelling or definition of a word
Sports
• Checking the result of a game
• Finding the winner of a game
• Checking the schedule of the next game
• Checking the score from Yahoo Fantasy Football
• Getting league standings
Smart Home
Alexa is capable of integrating with other smart home appliances or platforms. Recently, Amazon has updated its feature, making it able to changing smart bulb colours from TP-Link, LifX, and Philips Hue. So, here are the commands:
• Turning lights on/off
• Dim your lights
• Changing the colours of the lights
• Changing lights’ temperature
• Setting temperature
• Locking doors
• Closing garage doors
• Finding your devices
• Using IFTTT recipes
• Activating a scene like a bedtime, movie time. It is limited to Insteon, Lutron Caseta Wireless, Control4, Phillips Hue, SmartThings and Wink.
• Controlling GE appliances using Geneva skill
• Locating a lost device
• Controlling your TV through Harmony hub
• Run Away Mode to scare off burglars
• Alexa Guard keeps your house safe by notifying when on picking up smoke alarm sounds or the sound of breaking glass.
Skills
Skills for Alexa allow people to connect to third-party hardware or software to their speaker. They can also play games; add news sources into Flash Briefing, and so on. Commands are:
• Using a skill like opening an app
• Enable/disable a skill
• Opening bartender to get access to over 12,000 recipes of cocktails.
Search
• Getting information from Wikipedia
• Telling Alexa to read more from same Wikipedia entry
• Asking general questions
• Asking question from Quora
• Getting famous quotes, for instance, quotes from Game of Thrones
• Checking stock values
Shopping and To-do lists
• Adding a new task to your to-do list
• Creating a new item in the to-do list
• Checking calendar events
• Adding a new event to the calendar
• Moving an event in your calendar
• Creating new shopping lists
• Checking a shopping list
• Creating a reminder
• Checking existing reminders
• Donating money to a charity
• Checking balance in your card
User Accounts and Profiles
• Switch accounts or profiles
• Checking the active profile
Voice-cast
• Sending your current listening to your Fire tablet
• Sending a voice-cast to a different Fire tablet
Weather and News
• Asking about Flash Briefing
• Adding news on music to Flash Briefing
• Checking headlines
• Checking weather
• Checking weather forecast
• Asking traffic information
Alexa Easter Eggs
You can ask Alexa for Easter eggs as well as jokes.
Conclusion
So, these were the commands that you can ask Alexa. Using them, you can make your life easier.
