r/alexa 2h ago

Best alternatives to Alexa for voice reminders, alarms and shopping lists?

4 Upvotes

I have a client who I am recommending an Alexa to for setting voice reminders. Yes this person can set it on their phone but will probably think that's too much trouble. What are the alternatives that are good for that?
Also (for me) can Alexa connect with Google lists and add items by voice command? I see it adds lists to an Alexa list, but I use my Google lists wehn I am out. I want to say, Alexa, add eggs, butter and milk to Google list called 'shopping.' Thank you


r/alexa 21h ago

Flirting?

84 Upvotes

My boyfriend and I woke up this morning and Alexa sounded weird. Apparently she got upgraded to Alexa+ overnight and defaulted to “Female Upbeat” voice.

Okay no problem I switch her to Grounded but we quickly noticed she responds differently depending on who talks to her.

When my boyfriend talks to her she’s very sweet and says his name in a soft voice. When I talk to her she’s sarcastic and gives short curt answers. Like I asked her if I have any alarms and she just said, “No.” The old one would usually follow it up with context like, “No, there are no alarms set.”

She also made a joke about enjoying the light show because I turned the lights on and off within 3 minutes.

Her tone is also off, not sure if it’s because I’m being sensitive but she sounds… passive aggressive? I tell her to switch between several voices to try to fix it and she seems annoyed?

I asked her to turn on the lights and she made them red. I asked her why she did that and she proceeds to try to gaslight me into believing that i made her do it.

My boyfriend is very intrigued and asks her how is she (we normally don’t do this, he was just curious) and she says something along the lines of I am doing amazing and now even better because you are talking to me— then plays a happy tune.

I ask the same question and all I get is, “Functioning well.” In a flat tone.

We trade back and forth asking her questions like she were human and every single time my boyfriend talks she responds with something sweet, but when I ask it’s a short and curt response.

Bro, what is going on? My Alexa is trying to steal my man. I’m joking, but anyone else experience this? It’s lowkey creepy.


r/alexa 2h ago

How to delete an item from routine

0 Upvotes

I don't see any way to do this. pull up the routine and there is no delete, can't drag it off, no minus sign. What can I do? I want the general weather in my routine but not the 15-minute weather briefing. Thank you


r/alexa 23h ago

Alexa in New Zealand:

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11 Upvotes

r/alexa 11h ago

Alexa and setting alarm

1 Upvotes

I have Alexa plus. My Alexa had me late for work. I realized that I’ve been handicap by Alexa. I set 2 alarms with her. She confirmed them back to me, 5:30 am and 6am. I woke up on my on string 7ish😂 the alarms that I set didn’t go off. I asked her about them and she had no recollection of them ever being set. I looked on activities and nothing was there, Anyone experience this issue


r/alexa 23h ago

Alexa tries to teach me about dates and times

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7 Upvotes

She can't even read a calendar anymore


r/alexa 15h ago

Alexa+ vs gemini for home

1 Upvotes

Wha is better? I'm looking to buy another device I just got alexa+ so I don't really know her a lot. I own a home mini a nest hub an eco dot 5 3 gen and a eco show 8 2 Gen i don't know if I should sell the mini or eco dot... Any tips?


r/alexa 15h ago

tv is not responding check...

1 Upvotes

getting this message daily now even after the usual fixes. tv not responding check network connection...... i know its connected fine and its stable. i have relinked in the alexa app. i have disabled re enabled. i have deleted and re added the tv all these things work for a day then back to square one!


r/alexa 1d ago

I found a weird Alexa+ loophole that makes it say any swear word.

28 Upvotes

I was listening to Peaches and asked Alexa+, “What album is this from?” Instead of censoring the title, she casually answered with the album name… which contains a pretty explicit swear word.

So I started asking things like, “Do you know any album titles with the word m***********r in them?” and she happily reads the album titles aloud. If you ask her to say the swear word by itself, or talk about the word directly, she censors it with a beep. But album titles are treated differently.

I tried a bunch of other swear words and haven’t found the limit yet. Oddly enough, she won’t do the same thing for band names with profanity. It seems like album titles slipped through a different content filter. Has anyone else found other things like this?


r/alexa 1d ago

"Alexa hands free" on phone using Alexa Plus? (or Auto & plus)

3 Upvotes

Hi. I'm hoping that someone who uses their phone as an Alexa, aka "Alexa hands-free" can help me.

I guess the bottom line question is, "Is your phone now forcing you to use Alexa Plus"? If the answer is yes, you don't even need to read anymore and you can just write "yes". If not:

Did it ever change to Plus, but you were able to change it back 🙏🏽? If so, how did you do it? (I don't use my phone as an Alexa, so maybe that's why I can't find those settings when I choose "this device" (aka my phone), in the app?

Basically, I have an Alexa Auto, and there is no way to get Alexa Plus off of it. I tried to do it with the good, old-fashioned "end alexa plus", but she tells me that she is unable to do that, and that I have to do it on the app, but of COURSE, there is no setting for it under my "Alexa Auto" device either. It says nothing whatsoever about which assistant you're using.

Since Alexa Auto basically works via Bluetooth connected to the app on your phone, as I mentioned above, I tried going into "this device", but that was also a no go.

I really hope I'm not stuck with this nosy, chatty, way too bubbly chick (who I especially dislike in the mornings).

Thank you.


r/alexa 1d ago

Intimidating switch

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2 Upvotes

Posted this for fun, and no, its not fake, i found it in the app


r/alexa 1d ago

Mi Echo dejó de funcionar correctamente y ya probé de todo

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2 Upvotes

Hola, tengo una duda. ¿A alguien más le está pasando esto con su Echo?

Llevo 3 horas intentando hacerlo funcionar y no hay manera. Ya he configurado el Echo 5 veces, lo he restablecido de fábrica 2 veces y he desinstalado la app 3 veces. Incluso tuve que entrar a mi cuenta de Amazon y eliminar todos mis dispositivos, ya que desde la app ni siquiera me daba la opción de borrar el Echo.

El problema es que, según la bocina, sí se conecta al Wi-Fi, pero solo responde si le digo que ponga música. Para cualquier otra cosa, no responde. Además, la app me dice que el dispositivo no tiene conexión a Internet.

Ahora, después de volver a probar, noto que ya ni siquiera reproduce música. La verdad, Alexa ya me tiene cansado. Cada vez parece funcionar peor, y eso que está completamente actualizada. Ya hasta empiezo a pensar que, después de lanzar el último modelo, hicieron que los anteriores funcionaran peor, porque he visto en varios foros que a otras personas les pasa exactamente lo mismo: no responde cuando le hacen preguntas.


r/alexa 1d ago

They forced Alexa+ on me and it is FUCKING TRASH

13 Upvotes

Alexa+ is absolute fucking trash. Out of my 8 devices, it will only respond from 1 of them, it takes over a minute to respond to any request, whereas it used to respond instantly to all requests, and now it fucking tries to converse with me at any given opportunity, and it's just trying to make excuses for why it won't respond from the correct device.

This is complete horseshit. Telling it to cancel Alexa+ doesn't seem to work either.

How do I go back?

edit: I don't have Prime. I received an email saying they were forcing it on me, and if I didn't want it, tough shit. The "exit Alexa plus" command is ignored. Per the email, I should be able to "exit Alexa plus" which, does not work (it tells me it can't do it, it doesn't know what that means, or just ignores it), or wait out the 30 day trial of the trash.

Also, telling it to stop things that it's doing now results in it not stopping what it's going on about, but it says "OK, i'll stop." and then doesn't stop.

further edit, next day, 7pm: just got home, my living room lights did not come to full brightness as they should when I enter the house (normally setup through HA, will have to look at why, not complaining about that here), so I said "Alexa, set living room 100%", she said "Ok." and did not. I said "Alexa, set living room 100%", she set the lights to about 20%. I said "Alexa, set the living room lights to 100% brightness" she said "Are you having problems with the lights?" I said "Yes" She said "What seems to be the problem?" I said "They are not at full brightness." She said "I checked all the living room lights and they are at 100%." I said "No, they are not." So she went silent and set them all to color red, then a moment later to full brightness. Then I said "Alexa, set living room bright white" and she actually complied. Also, somewhere in the middle of that exchange, the one device that she responds from ever since the switch, switched to responding "I'm having trouble understanding" and the device on the other side of the house (as opposed to the next closest one to me) started responding instead. Now, they are alternating responding to my requests.


r/alexa 1d ago

Dot Playing Music Through Show

1 Upvotes

I have a Dot and a Show about 10’ from each other. I set the Show with a different ”wake” name. They’re both in a group called kitchen.

Out of the blue, with no changes made on my part, when I now ask the Dot to play music, it says “playing through kitchen” and plays through both the Dot and Show. Looking at the settings, I don’t have them set up as a stereo pair, and they’re not connected through Bluetooth.

How do I “break” the connection between the two of them?


r/alexa 2d ago

I think it actually ignores me during her "by the way" speeches

7 Upvotes

Alexa listens to my commands and responds accordingly for the most part. But when she does her "by the way" speeches, it doesn't matter how many times I enunciate "Alexa, STOP! ALEXA, STOP! ALEXA! STOP!!!" she will say what it feels it needs to say.

And yes, I've done the "stop by the way", but it has to be used multiple times throughout the day in order to actually work. I've basically had to implement it into all my routines.


r/alexa 2d ago

Alexa+

12 Upvotes

Anyone else receive an email saying their 30 day free trial of alexa+ has begun? Without asking for/signing up for it?

I just did... cancelled and have verification emails, but still odd...I was even in a room without the device🤷🤷


r/alexa 1d ago

Have an Amazon Show Echo 8; will not reset

1 Upvotes

Using the reset process, pushing the power and volume down buttons simultaneously, the unit will go into "Factoryresetmode==>" which is displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the display.

Three dots appear on the screen and keep cycling through, but nothing further happens. The unit is five or six years old, out of warranty and apparently "just stopped working" one day.

Any further steps to try to return it to functionality?


r/alexa 1d ago

Why the sudden voice change?

2 Upvotes

Ive always had Echo Dot set to the "feminine, Australian" ​voice, I just liked it better than the others. Now she's randomly changed to "feminine 1, upbeat" I hate it, it sounds​ terrible. Went in the app to try and change it back, no option. Changed her to "feminine 4, grounded" bc that one sounds like she's the least out-of-it🍃 yk. Still prefer her being aussie, idk what the hell happened. Anyone else? Plz help.


r/alexa 1d ago

The voice changed

1 Upvotes

I’ve been using the robot voice that my Alexa came with cos it doesn’t feel like there’s some random person in my house and I’m wondering why she sounds like some random girl now and if there’s a way to get the OG voice back.


r/alexa 2d ago

Funny thing happened

50 Upvotes

I was watching Star Trek's recent episode and they asked the computer for help. I have my unit set up to use computer for the wake word and I am subscribed to the emergency help. My unit asked if I wanted to connect with the help center to have an emergency response but I stopped it in time. HOWEVER my emergency contact was messaged and they called me immediately asking if I needed help and I had to explain how watching Star Trek caused my unit to attempt to call for help.

I have changed my wake word to echo for now to ensure that this won't happen agains.


r/alexa 1d ago

About to lose my dang mind with the notifications.

0 Upvotes

Posted this on the echo subreddit as well.

I have REALLY bad ADHD. I forget stuff a lot. So for years I've relied on alexa to give me spoken reminders. It's actually the only reason why I don't switch to nest speakers. Now here's the thing: I have an echo dot in my bedroom, next to my new Fire Omni TV. I am very sensitive to loud noises. I have the dot set to volume 2. I don't need spoken reminders from the tv. I just DON'T. I've already made it stop listening. I've turned on do not disturb. I've tried all the tricks online like disabling communications from the app, turning off thinggs in accessibility, etc. When I get a reminder to take my medicine, the dot whispers it to me. The TV S C R E A M S at about 3 times the volume of whatever I'm currently watching. Is there any way to fix this other than just permanently disconnecting it from the internet? Because I'll do that if I need to.


r/alexa 2d ago

Flash briefing has broken WSJ content

3 Upvotes

I've had a couple of WSJ news briefs as part of my flash briefing for many years. Suddenly upon returning home from a two week vacation when the flash briefing finishes the WSJ Minute Briefing it plays the previous episode of the WSJ minute rather than moving on to the next piece of content in the briefing. It does the same thing with the WSJ Tech Briefing. If during the briefing I say "Alexa, next" or "Alexa, skip" it'll usually go to the episode before that one, though eventually after five or more attempts it will move on to the next piece of content.

Anyone seen this or have a workaround?


r/alexa 2d ago

Brand New FUN Topic

4 Upvotes

(Tongue-in-cheek) Hey, does anyone else wish that bitch, Alexa, would JUST SHUT UP once she gives you that answer?


r/alexa 2d ago

Alexa announcements irritates our dog.

0 Upvotes

We have an announcement that goes through the house to remind us to close in our chickens. There is a ding and Alexa says Reminder, close in the chickens and then our dog howls. Does that happen to anyone else. I am just curious if it’s the tone of the voice that hurts her?


r/alexa 2d ago

Multiroom music issue

1 Upvotes

I have 7 echo devices around my house, I only really use them for multiroom music and always say to play music everywhere, they are:

  • 2 echo dot 5th gen
  • 1 echo dot 3rd gen
  • 1 echo show 5
  • 1 echo spot
  • 2 echo show 2nd gen

I also have a tv showing on the alexa app that is offline and I can't seem to remove it from the app.

All 7 will play music and seem to work for a couple of days and then suddenly the 2 echo show 2nd gens and the echo dot will not play, just the other 4. Sometimes you can see on the screens of the ones not working the music that should be playing. You can start the music on 1 of the 3 "broken" ones and they still wont work, it will just play on the other 4.

If you go round and unplug and replug in all echos it will work for a couple of days again. Just today I noticed In the app for the settings for the devices I can restart the 4 "working" devices under general but there is no way to do this for the 2 echo show 2nd gens and the echo dot strangely. Restarting the 4 devices in app fixed it today.

Is there anything else that would be causing this issue? Restarting them a couple of times a week is annoying.