Can you use Alexa as a Walkie Talkie?

Do you need to call everyone to dinner, but they are all in their separate rooms in the house? Maybe you don’t want to leave what you are doing in the kitchen, but you need something from the other room? Your solution to this probably involves shouting until you catch their attention and finally get them to do what you needed them to do.

What if I tell you that you can use devices you may already have in your house and use them as walkie talkies so you won’t need to shout around anymore?

 

Short Answer

Yes, you can configure a system that will allow you to communicate with other devices in your house and use them as walkie talkies or intercom devices. You just need to have devices that are Alexa-enabled and the Alexa app on your iOS or Android device if you want to use your mobile phone as well for this.

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Long Answer & Step-by-Step-Guide

If you have more than one Alexa-enabled devices scattered around your house, you can use these and configure them so they can function as intercom devices or walkie talkies. You can even connect your mobile phone to this system and use it as a walkie talkie that can communicate to the other devices as well.

 

How does it work?

In essence, this is similar to making a phone call. The difference is that once the system is up and running and your devices are now connected, you won’t need to wait for the other device to pick up and answer your call. You can start talking, and they will be able to hear you, and vice versa.

One is to communicate with a specific Alexa-enabled device in the style of two-way radios or walkie talkies by using the Drop-In feature of Alexa. This is useful if you need to communicate with one other device at a time.

Another thing that you can do is to communicate with multiple devices at the same time using the Announce feature. This is useful if you have a single message that you would like to send or broadcast to all your Alexa-enabled devices at the same time.

 

What are the requirements to set it up?

The key here is to have Alexa-enabled devices, such as:

• iOS or Android smartphone/s that have the Alexa app
• Amazon Echo. This one is the easily recognizable, standard size hands-free speaker that is voice-activated when you say “Alexa.”
• Amazon Echo Dot. This is the smaller version of the Echo shaped like a hockey puck.
• Amazon Echo Show. This is also a voice-activated smart speaker like Echo and Echo Dot. The difference is that Echo Show has a touchscreen display feature.

 

 

How do I use Alexa as a walkie talkie?

 

Rename Your Devices

You have to rename your devices first to make it easier to identify the specific devices that you want to communicate with. For example, you can rename your devices according to their location in the house like “Kitchen” or “Bedroom.”

Here are the steps to renaming your devices:

1. Open the Alexa app on your mobile phone.
2. Open Settings.
3. From the listed devices, look for your target device and select Edit to rename it.
4. Input your preferred name and save it.

 

Activate and Use Drop-In

Here are the steps to activate and use the Drop-In feature:

1. Open the Alexa app on your mobile phone.
2. Open Settings.
3. From the listed devices, select the name of the device you want to use as a walkie talkie.
4. Select Drop-In after General.
5. Set it to “Household Only.”
6. Repeat the same steps to the other devices that you want to include in the intercom system.
7. Once you are done configuring the Drop-In feature on your devices, speak the voice command to the Echo device that you are using to communicate: “Alexa, drop in on (name of the device).” This will activate the intercom feature in the device.
8. If you want to use your smartphone for this, open the Alexa app, and click on “Communicate.”

 

Use Announce

Here are the steps to use the Announce feature:

1. Speak the voice command to the Echo device that you are using to communicate: “Alexa, announce.”
2. After Alexa asks you for your message, say your message.
3. This will prompt all the Alexa-enabled devices connected to your intercom system to play your message simultaneously.
4. If you want to use your smartphone for this, open the Alexa app, and click on “Communicate.”
5. Click “Announce.”

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Conclusion – Can you use Alexa as a Walkie Talkie?

Advancements in technology are continuously working to making our lives better and to make tasks more convenient. This feature in Amazon Alexa certainly demonstrates that. With this guide, you can now take advantage of this technology.

Will you be trying out these features soon?

Let me know how your experience will turn out. 🙂