How to set up the app on Alexa for the virtual assistant

And is that not so long ago that Amazon launched an app for Android, with which you can manage the wizard remotely and order to any command. Although the interface is intuitive and quite simple to handle, the truth is that not sobrarían some tips for initial setup of the app, as well as certain extra features that we can exploit.

Initial configuration of Alexa

Before anything, you must synchronize the device Amazon Echo to your smartphone through a Wifi network that the device itself generates. Once you have made that step, everything else is discovered almost by inertia, with the help also of the wizard.

1. Open the app Alexa. In the first menu, we appear two options, either to set up Amazon Echo, or to set up the app. Of course we chose the firstsince , without the device activated, the operation of the application will be null and void.
2. In the following menu, it is necessary to choose the model wizard that we have at home, to subsequently link it to your mobile phone. When you have clicked on “Continue”, we must expect that the device light is orange. Once happens, we will get to the menu of Wifi networks to link the mobile phone with the network generated by Amazon Echo, easily recognisable by the name of Amazon followed by a few numbers.
3. Finally, we return to the interface of the app to find the Wifi network that we have at home, for the device to work with an internet connection steady and able to perform tasks.

I’ve already linked to Amazon Echo, what now?

The next thing is to identify within the app, for the wizard to get to know us better, both the name, routine, personal tastes. Not only does it include a person, that it is incumbent on the rest of the members in the house. Let’s see how to configure our profile in the app from Alexa.

1. Starting from the previous step, click on “Continue”, where you will see a menu to enter some data in the profile. First will be the first and last name, and then grant permissions to our contacts.
2. Then, we will ask for information about our phone number and a later verification of the same through SMS. Are the data that obviously you can skip, but you must keep in mind that in this way, Alexa will not be able to perform tasks such as call or send a message. A decision that is in the preferences of each user.

Nothing more. The app has already been configured and the data duly filled in for the wizard to know how to address each person that you interact with the device.

Extra features in the app Alexa

Obviously we cannot leave out certain functions that can be performed along the interface and that not everyone in the world knows how to handle. In the first place, the most striking is the so-called ‘Routine’where you can add routine tasks that must be done by the wizard, such as reporting about the weather or the news of the day, even set a daily alarm. In addition, from the menu ‘Add device’ it is possible add other devices that are already supported with Amazon Echo, such as lamps, televisions or audio players. This way, you can control everything from the same app, as well as establishing command.

In the same way, we can get that the conversations are a little more ‘private’, due to that Amazon usually listen to certain pieces of these talks to improve the service, or it is supposed to be. To achieve this privacy, the path is simple:

1. From the side menu drop-down, we gain access to the section of ‘Settings’.
2. Go down that menu until you find the section ‘Privacy Alexa’
3. We go into the “Manage my details from Alexa” and subsequently deactivate the box that you put “using voice recordings to improve the services of Amazon”.

Ready. With this we have solved the problem of privacy in conversations with Alexa. It is important to perform this step, because by default, that box will be active when we installed the app, so that there is no other to do it manually.