Years back, you had to dial a number on your phone to make a call while the person at the receiving end had to answer by pressing a button but right now, you can do all that hands-free when you make Phone Calls with Alexa.
Not only that but it’s also FREE.
Amidst all the cool things you can do with Alexa, You can also make video calls and group calls provided the other party/parties at the receiving end has set up Alexa on their devices.
And since Alexa is a voice assistant, you can make Phone Calls with Alexa enabled devices either by using the Alexa app or by using the echo show or Echo spot device.
Both ways work perfectly depending on your preference.
In this article, I will be breaking down everything you need to know about the Alexa calling feature, how to set Alexa up for calling and the things you need to know while setting it up
Now, what is great about the Alexa calling feature
About the Alexa Calling Feature
As we all know, Alexa is a voice assistant, and it can be enabled in a device form (echo show devices and other enabled devices) or as an app.
Alexa calling can happen between an Echo show device and an Alexa app.
It can also happen vice-versa, however, some of the astonishing features of Alexa calling are its ability to:
- Make International calls,
- Send and receive calls from mobile numbers,
- Send and receive calls from landlines,
- And the free cost of calling is just as similar to other platforms like WhatsApp zoom, messenger e.t.c.
The only thing that differentiates these messaging platforms from Alexa is the fact that their features revolve around messaging alone, not only that, you have to tap some buttons to make a call. however, Alexa is more sophisticated compared to them.
Moving forward, to make use of Alexa calling feature, you have set up the Alex app and the person at the receiving end
Now that we know what Alexa calling is all about, let’s get to know the tools we need to set it up
What you need to Set up for Alexa Calling
Now, before we can talk about calling using Alexa we have to understand what tools we need. which are listed below:
For the Alexa device, you need to have any of these:
- Amazon Echo (4th Gen)
- Amazon Echo Studio
- Amazon Echo Show 15
- Amazon Echo Show 10 (2020)
- Amazon Echo Show 8 (2021)
- Amazon Echo Show 5 (2021) and Echo Show 5 Kids
- Amazon Echo Dot (2020) and Echo Dot Kids Edition (2020)
- Amazon Echo Dot with Clock 4th Gen (2020)
- Amazon Echo Flex
Moving forward, the other things you need apart from these are
The Amazon Alexa app (Make sure you have the latest version of either Android or iOS)
Make sure you have the latest version of either Android or iOS. Since we know what is required to set up calling on Alexa, How do we set up the calling feature?
How to Set up Calling and Messaging in the Alexa app
To setup Calling and Messaging in your Alexa app, simply follow these simple steps:
- Launch your Alexa app.
- On the menu bar at the bottom, locate “communicate” and tap it
- Next, tap the “call icon” on the next screen
- a screen will appear telling you to enter your phone number, Enter it and press continue
- Now, you will receive a verification code, simply enter the OTP code and hit the “Continue” button
- On the next screen, you will be asked if you want to enable drop-in
Explanation: Drop-in is an Alexa feature that lets you communicate with other Alexa devices within your home range.
If you don’t want to deal with it now,
- Simply click “later” to skip that to set it up later.
- Once you’re done with these you will be able to make phone calls with Alexa
- So, how do you make Phone calls with Alexa after following the steps?
- You can do that either by using the Alexa app or any supported Echo device as listed above
To make calls using the Alexa app follow these instructions below:
How to use your Alexa App to Make a Call
Following the procedures below you will understand how to make a phone call on Alexa using the Alexa app.
- Launch your Alexa app
- Locate the communicate icon at the bottom and tap it
- Now, tap on the contact icon at the top right corner.
- After doing that, you will be able to see all the contacts on your phone, simply tap on the contact you want to call and hit “call“.
- As soon as the call is finished, tap the “End” button to end the call.
You can also set different routines on Alexa maybe you want to make a call or send a message at a later date check here to learn about setting routines on Alexa
Now that you’ve figured out how to call someone using g the Alexa app, an even better option is to simply use your voice with either your Alexa app or an Echo device
How to use your Voice to make Phone calls with Alexa
Since Alexa is a voice assistant and you definitely can use it for calling. it only requires that you’ve done the necessary setup to make calling possible
Now, lets continue, if you’ve set up Alexa for calling, here’s what you have to do next to start using voice commands to make phone calls:
- let’s say you want to call your mom, and her name is saved in the contact simply say – “Alexa, call [mom].”
- If you haven’t saved the name you can say – Alexa call [201-555-5555]
- to end a call simply say – Alexa “hang up” or Alexa “End call”
- If you don’t want to pick up the call, simply say – Alexa ignore to ignore the person calling
Now, for all these to work seamlessly, the person calling you has to be on board, as soon as the call centers, all the devices with Alexa will ring out.
Moving forward, you can also make use of Alexa to message someone, and here is how to go about it
How to send Messages using Alexa
To send messages you can do this by using a voice command or by typing the e-message on your Alexa app.
Now, let’s break down how to do that with your Alexa app
- Launch your Alexa app
- Now, tap on the “conversations button”
- On the contact list, select the name of the person you want to message.
- Now, you can either decide to type your message and hit the send icon or hold down the “microphone icon” to record your message.
Note: doing this won’t send the message directly to the recipient phone the person will receive it on their echo device or Alexa app.
As soon as the recipient gets the message. a notification will appear on their phone or the light will simply flash on their echo device.
Now to make video calls on Alexa here’s how to go about it.
How to Make a Video call using Alexa
To make a video call using Alexa you want to make sure the person you intend to make the video call with, has the Alexa app set up on any of their devices.
in addition to that, you can use the Alexa app to video call, someone, while the person receives the call on his/her Echo’s screen device.
This can also happen vice-versa.
Now to make a video call using your echo show device, follow the steps below
- Say- Alexa, Video call [the name of the contact as stored on your list]
However, you can also use the display on your echo show device by following these simple steps:
- On the screen of your echo show or echo spot device
- Swipe to the right side of the screen to open the Echo Show feature menu.
- At the top left corner of the menu, tap on “Communicate”
- Now, tap on “Show Contacts” to open your contact list.
- On your contact list, navigate to the contact you want to call and hit the contact name
- Now, tap on “call” which is usually under the “Alexa devices” menu to start a video call.
Moving forward, here’s how to make a video call using the Alexa app
- Launch the Alexa app
- Now, tap on the “bubble icon” at the center of the app
- on the communication screen, hit the contact icon at the top right corner of the screen
- Now, choose a person from the contact list
- On the person contact name, you will see an icon, simply click on the icon
- A drop down will spring up, now, simply select video call.
As soon as you’re done with the video call, you can tap on the red button on simply say Alexa “hang up” or “End the call.”
Check out this guide on how to change Alexa wake’s word.
The person you are calling must have a smartphone with Alexa installed or an echo show or echo spot device.
Conclusion
Alexa has made devices smarter, with the Alexa calling feature you can utter voice commands to make either voice or video call,
In addition to all these, you can also create a group video call, link Alexa to skype or zoom in to make video calls.
With the ease of usage and the limitless features it possesses. alexa is defining the evolution of tech devices.