Questions to Ask Alexa
Commands worth learning for an Echo, chosen because the exact wording changes what you get. Named timers, reminders rather than alarms, multi-room audio, unit conversions, announcements and the voice history commands. Each note says what the phrasing gets you and what has to be set up in the app first.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Alexa, set a timer for ten minutes called pasta.
Why ask it
Naming a timer is the part most people never learn, and it changes the device from one timer to a kitchen full of them. Without a name, a second timer is announced only by its length, which is useless once three are running.
Alexa, how much time is left on my timers?
Why ask it
The companion command to the one above, and the reason naming matters: you get each timer back by name. Also worth knowing that you can cancel one specifically, which saves cancelling all of them and restarting.
Alexa, remind me to take the bins out at seven tonight.
Why ask it
A reminder speaks the text back at you, while an alarm just makes a noise. For anything you would otherwise forget the reason for, the reminder is the right tool, and it can be repeated on set days if you add every Tuesday to the end.
Alexa, wake me up to the radio at half past six.
Why ask it
Turns the alarm into a music or station alarm rather than a beep. Name the station or the playlist and it starts with that instead. Worth testing the night before, since an alarm pointed at a service you are not signed into will fail silently.
Alexa, set a sleep timer for thirty minutes.
Why ask it
Stops whatever is playing after the time you give, which is different from a timer that makes a noise. The command people want at bedtime, and it works alongside a request for rain or fan sounds rather than replacing it.
Alexa, add milk to my shopping list.
Why ask it
Works while your hands are wet, which is the whole point. The list syncs to the app, so the useful habit is adding as you run out rather than writing anything down. It will also add several items in one sentence if you separate them clearly.
Alexa, what is on my shopping list?
Why ask it
Reading the list back catches the two problems with voice entry: items misheard, and items added twice under slightly different names. Ask before you leave the house rather than discovering it in the shop.
Alexa, what is the weather this weekend?
Why ask it
The default weather answer is today, and asking for a named day or a weekend gets a fuller picture. Also accepts a place, so you can check where you are travelling to rather than where the device is.
Alexa, do I need an umbrella tomorrow?
Why ask it
A question rather than a data request, and it returns a plain yes or no with the chance of rain, which is more use in the hallway than a full forecast. The same phrasing works for a coat or for whether it will be cold.
Alexa, what is my flash briefing?
Why ask it
The news bulletin is assembled from sources you choose in the app, and almost nobody edits the default. Ten minutes changing which outlets it includes, and in what order, is the highest value setup on this list.
Alexa, next.
Why ask it
Works in the middle of a briefing to skip a story, and in music to skip a track. Most people sit through a bulletin item they do not care about because they do not know the briefing is skippable.
Alexa, what song is this?
Why ask it
Only answers about audio the device is playing itself, not music coming from another speaker in the room. Follow it by asking to add the song to a playlist, which saves the usual scramble to remember it later.
Alexa, play this everywhere.
Why ask it
Moves what is currently playing to every Echo in the house, which requires a speaker group set up in the app first. You can also name one room to move it there, which is the version people use most once they know it exists.
Alexa, set the volume to three.
Why ask it
Numeric volume from zero to ten is far quicker than repeating turn it down. Worth learning three as your evening level and seven as your kitchen level, then just saying the number.
Alexa, convert two hundred grams of flour to cups.
Why ask it
Handles cooking conversions with the ingredient included, which matters because volume to weight differs by ingredient. Also does temperatures and tin sizes, and this is genuinely faster than finding a chart with floury hands.
Alexa, what is fifteen percent of eighty six?
Why ask it
Arithmetic out loud is one of the things a speaker is reliably good at, and it covers tips, discounts and splitting a bill. Say the numbers plainly rather than as an equation, since spoken symbols are where it stumbles.
Alexa, how do you say where is the station in Spanish?
Why ask it
Translates short phrases and speaks them back, which is useful for practising pronunciation as much as for the words. Keep phrases short, because long sentences get truncated or mangled.
Alexa, announce that dinner is ready.
Why ask it
Broadcasts your recorded voice to every Echo in the house, which beats shouting up the stairs. Distinct from a drop in, which opens a live two way channel to one device and should be set up deliberately rather than discovered by a housemate.
Alexa, call Mum.
Why ask it
Hands free calling works once contacts are imported and permissions are granted in the app. Useful for anyone who cannot easily hold a phone, and worth testing before you need it rather than during an emergency.
Alexa, what did I just say?
Why ask it
Plays back the last thing it recorded, which is the quickest way to see why a command was misheard. Half of what looks like a failure to understand turns out to be a transcription problem you can hear for yourself.
Alexa, delete everything I said today.
Why ask it
A voice command for clearing the day's recordings, and it works alongside the full history view in the app. Worth knowing that the setting for how long recordings are kept is separate, and that changing it once is more effective than deleting repeatedly.
Alexa, good morning.
Why ask it
Does very little by default and a great deal if you build a routine behind it. One phrase can raise the lights, read the weather and start the briefing. If you set up nothing else from this list, set up one routine.
Setup that makes the commands work
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Ten minutes in the app, once
- 1Set your home address and, if you commute, your work address. Traffic and local answers are useless without them.
- 2Choose a default music service, otherwise every music request has to name a provider out loud.
- 3Edit the flash briefing so the news comes from sources you actually want, in the order you want them.
- 4Create speaker groups for the rooms you use, which is what makes playing music everywhere or in the kitchen possible.
- 5Set up voice profiles for the people in the house so calendars, music and reminders go to the right person.
- 6Build one routine with a phrase you would plausibly say, and add to it over time rather than designing something elaborate.
Phrasing that gets better results
- Name things: timers, rooms, playlists, contacts. Named items can be asked about, changed and cancelled individually.
- Put the important word early. Long preambles before the actual request are where recognition breaks down.
- Use reminders for anything with a reason attached, and alarms only for waking up. Reminders speak the text back.
- Ask for a named day rather than saying later or soon, which get interpreted inconsistently.
- If a command fails twice, ask what it heard rather than repeating it louder. The transcription usually explains the failure.
Privacy settings worth checking
- Review voice history in the app and set how long recordings are retained, which is a one-off change rather than a repeated cleanup.
- Check which skills have permissions to your address, calendar and contacts, and remove the ones you enabled once and forgot.
- Turn off purchasing by voice, or set a confirmation code, particularly in a house with children.
- Learn the mute button on the device for conversations you would rather not have transcribed at all, since that is the only certain method.
- If you have guests or lodgers, decide deliberately whether drop in is enabled, because it allows a live channel into a room.
Where it falls short
Anything needing a follow-up question
Requests that depend on context from two turns ago tend to fail. Say the whole thing in one sentence rather than building it up conversationally.
Recipes read out step by step
This works better on a screen device than a speaker, and the ingredient list is usually too long to hold in your head. Use it for conversions and timers instead.
Skills you enabled once
Third party skills are where features come from and also where the clutter accumulates. Every so often, remove the ones you have not used, since some hold permissions.
Assuming a command works everywhere
Availability of calling, news sources, music services and translation varies by country and by device. If something on this list does nothing, it may not be released where you are rather than misheard.