Price | Free |
Version | 2.2.484314.0 |
Category | Audio |
Developer | Amazon Mobile LLC |
Source | iOS, Android |
Rating | (4.1) |
Alexa is Amazon’s cloud-powered voice assistant that lets people ask questions, control smart home gadgets, play music, check weather forecasts, set timers, read news headlines, and much more.
With Alexa, you can build conversational experiences that are easy to understand and fun to use. Customers can simply say “Hey Alexa,” and Alexa responds instantly.
Alexa uses machine learning techniques to understand what she hears, making her smarter over time.
You can even connect Alexa to thousands of different devices, such as lights, locks, thermostats, sprinklers, smoke alarms, cameras, speakers, TVs, and garage door openers.
And because Alexa is built into many popular consumer electronics brands like Sonos, Philips Hue, iDevices, Samsung SmartThings, and others, Alexa is already integrated into many homes across the globe.
Alexa is available on Amazon Echo, Kindle Fire tablets, Fire TV, Android phones and tablets, iPhones, iPad, Mac computers, Windows PCs, and Chromebooks.
Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, now works with Apple Music, giving you access to playlists, artists, albums, and songs.
You’ll still need to download Apple Music onto your device, but once it’s set up, Alexa can help you find music based on genre, mood, artist, or even song lyrics.
To use Apple Music with Alexa, open the Amazon Alexa app. Then, in the lower-right corner of the screen, tap More. In the menu that appears, tap Skills & Games.
Scroll down to find Apple Music. Tap Enable To Use. Tap Settings. Tap General. Turn On Siri Shortcuts. Tap Music. Under Music Services, select Apple Music. Tap Save Changes.
If you’re looking to add voice commands to your Xbox One, Amazon just launched a new Alexa app.
This gives you access to more of the “visual” aspects of the digital assistant, like being able to check your email, read messages from friends, and see what’s happening in your home.
You’ll still be able to use Alexa to play music, ask questions about products, and set timers, alarms, reminders, and schedules.
But it’s nice to have a dedicated app to do things like view your doorbell cam.
The app has been rolled out recently, so make sure you update it on your console.
Alexa, what are some good podcasts?
Alexa, play my favorite podcast about sports.
Alexa, turn off the news.
Alexa, find me something funny.
Alexa, play music I like.
Alexa, tell me how many calories are in this meal.
Alexa read me a story.
The Amazon Alexa app has many positive features. We have used voice assistance on our phones, with an Amazon Echo speaker, and also with a radio, in our Kitchen.
One of the main benefits is that Alexa understands almost everything you say, which makes her useful for both chatting with friends and family and interacting with smart home devices.
She also learns over time what you like and dislike, so she becomes better and better at understanding you.
Alexa is one of those things you just don’t think about unless someone brings it up. But there are some pros and cons to consider before you start building a bot.
For starters, Alexa is great because she listens to what you’re saying. She’s smart enough to know what you mean without having to ask you anything.
So if you want to play music, Alexa knows exactly how to do that.
You can tell her “play Mozart,” and she’ll play Mozart. She understands context, too. Say something like “Play Happy Birthday to my wife.” Alexa will hear that as “Play Happy Birthday to my wife.”
Yes, you read that correctly. If you’re thinking, “that doesn’t sound too hard,” well, you’d be wrong.
Alexa can control many devices in your house, including light switches, locks, garage doors, fans, air conditioning units, heaters, and more.
The downside here is that Alexa is pretty good at understanding English. So if you speak another language, she might struggle a little bit.
Also, Alexa isn’t very conversational. When you talk to her, you aren’t really talking to a person; you’re talking to a machine. So if you want a bot that feels like a real human being, Alexa probably isn’t for you.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Alexa is built into a lot of different devices. This makes it easy to use, but it also limits where you can deploy your bot. You can’t build a bot that works everywhere Alexa does.
So if you want your bot to work across multiple platforms, you’re going to have to make sure it speaks the same language as each device.
There are plenty of bots out there that already do this, but they tend to be quite expensive. A cheaper option is to use a third party such as Microsoft Bot Framework.
If you want to get started with the Amazon Alexa app, you should definitely check out our guide above to get started with Alexa. It covers all the basics you need to know to get started.