Questions tagged [alexa]

For questions about Amazon's Alexa voice recognition service. This includes questions about interfacing Alexa with other services, Alexa skills and how to create custom Alexa skills. Consider adding the [amazon-echo] tag when your question is more closely focused on the device at home.

Use this tag for questions that are about Amazon's Alexa voice recognition service.

Consider the question check list if your question fits the tag. You can also look at the example questions. If this tag doesn't fit your question have a look below at somehow related tags that might fit your question better.

Question checklist

  • Is the question about the Alexa cloud voice that powers Echo devices?
  • Does the question clearly describe the problem or goal that is to be achieved?
  • Is the use of Alexa a central part of the question?

Example questions

Not what you are looking for?

  • Use for questions about the end device that is powered by the Alexa services.

  • Use for general questions about any assistant (e.g. Cortana, Google Assistant or Alexa)

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How can I stop Alexa from ordering things if it hears a voice on TV?

According to The Register, lots of Amazon Echo devices were accidentally triggered by a presenter saying 'Alexa ordered me a dollhouse'. Telly station CW-6 said the blunder happened during a Thursday morning news package about a Texan six-year-old…
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How to use English Alexa Skills on my German Echo Dot

I want to use English Alexa skills on a German Echo Dot. But when I switch to US English to access English skills I get this problem: Die ausgewählte Spracheinstellung stimmt nicht mit den Einstellungen Ihres Amazon-Kontos überein. Daher werden…
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Can I ask Alexa to turn off its microphone by voice command?

Is it possible to build a custom skill that would be equivalent to pressing the microphone on/off button on the top of the Amazon Echo? I know from this article on How-To Geek that such voice command is not available by default: One feature we…
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Is the Amazon Echo mic mute a hardware switch?

I recently got my hands on an Echo Dot. I'm hesitating to install it, since I'm concerned about my privacy. According to Amazon's privacy notice, they may use all data they capture. I've noticed that the Amazon Echo comes with a mic mute button,…
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How do I configure Alexa to access a REST API?

I have several lights connected to relays which are connected to a wiolink I can turn the lights on and off through the REST API, like so: curl https://us.wio.seeed.io/v1/node/GroveRelayD0/onoff/[onoff]?access_token=xxxxx How can I access this…
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How to change the Amazon Echo wake word?

Is it possible to change the Amazon's Echo wake word from "Alexa" to something else? If so, how can I do that?
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How to write custom Alexa Skills without 'Ask xxxx'

I am currently using fauxmo to send custom commands to various devices to turn them on/off (For instance I have a WiFi to IR converter to control my Tuner & TV) and I can turn the tv on/off with this. I also have Kodi integration setup, so I can…
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Can Alexa ever speak without being prompted?

I was recently asked if Alexa can ever speak without prompting, so I thought it'd be helpful to ask here to make sure I'm right; as far as I know, Alexa will never, ever speak without the wake word, and the only unprompted sound it will make is the…
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Making Amazon Echo / Alexa work outside of US, UK, Germany and Canada

According to Amazon Echo's Wikipedia page, they're only available in the US, UK, Germany and Canada. Echo's Achilles heel is Amazon's unwillingness to look beyond the US. - The Australian However, being primarily an IoT device, they should work…
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Can you setup Alexa to remind you about calendar events?

Is it possible to configure an Amazon Echo so that Alexa will tell you about upcoming events (e.g. from Google Calendar) an hour before each of them by waking itself up and reminding you about them?
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How can I use Alexa to turn on/off multiple lights at the same time with SmartThings hub?

I have various lights/switches/dimmers on a SmartThings hub. I can control them individually, but would like to say something like "Alexa turn on everything" to turn on all lights, or maybe "turn on movie time" to dim the lights turn off the kitchen…
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How to efficiently control my dumb TV via Alexa?

I have a more or less dumb TV (Toshiba 42SL863G) and home cinema system (LG HX806SG) which I want to control via Alexa voice command. At least switch them on and change into either TV or home cinema configuration. Unfortunately that seems to mean…
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Will alarms set on one Amazon Echo be shared with all other devices in the same home?

With the Amazon Echo, it's easy to set an alarm that will be triggered on the same device that the alarm was created, however it isn't always useful if you're not going to remain in the same room when you expect the alarm to fire (e.g. if you set an…
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How does one capture the recognised text from Echo?

I know that some skills can capture spoken text, such as when adding to to-do lists and shopping lists, and third party skills can also do this, eg. SMS with Molly. So, how do they do this? Is there an API call that captures the recognized text and…
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How do I train my Amazon Echo to understand my voice more accurately?

The problem I have with these voice activated devices is that it doesn't always understand my voice correctly. I'm mostly focused on the Amazon Echo; in this post I am asking: How can I train my Amazon Echo to help it understand my voice more…
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