If the future is defined by the Internet-of-things, then Alexa is not far behind in being the torchbearer of AI-powered technology that will make life worthwhile and comfy for everyone. To put things in perspective, Amazon famously made the claim that it sold “tens of millions” of Alexa-powered devices such as the Echo Dot and Echo Spot in 2017 itself. Amazon Echo and Echo Dot are Alexa-based smart home speakers that can do useful things aplenty for you within the confines of your home. But, do you know how to make them work? We are breaking down 60 of the best Alexa commands list of 2020 that will come in handy for you in your everyday life: be it running errands or finding information on the internet.
For starters, you can commence your Alexa experience by saying “Alexa, what can you do?” and learn more about your AI assistant’s enormous capabilities. But, for those of you new to the most popular AI assistant on the market, here’s the printable list of 60 best Alexa commands of 2020 that will make you the master of your Alexa smart home speakers a.k.a the Amazon Echo/Echo Dot devices.
Table of Contents
So are you ready to summon Alexa? Let’s get started.
Best Alexa Commands of 2020: How To Basic
1. Ask for help
If you are desirous of any sort of help in terms of troubleshooting, simply ask, “Alexa, help”. Or, you can also a strike up a conversation with Alexa by saying “Alexa, let’s chat”.
2. Change the Volume
Want Alexa to bump up the volume? Try saying: “Alexa, set the volume to 10” or “Alexa, turn up the volume by a notch”. If you want to reduce the volume, just say “Alexa, turn down the volume”. Simple as that.
3. Stop or Pause Alexa: “Alexa, Shut up” or “Alexa, Pause”
Best Alexa Commands for Time management
4. Set an Alarm
Setting an alarm on an Amazon Echo device is a breeze. All you have to do is to say, “Alexa, set an alarm for 6 AM” or any other time of your choice.
5. Set a timer: “Alexa, set a timer for 20 minutes”
6. Know the current time: “Alexa, tell me the time”
7. Cancel the timer: “Alexa, cancel my timer”
8. Check the time left for next alarm: “Alexa, how much time is left for my next alarm?”
Best Alexa Commands for Fire TV Controls
9. Control Fire TV: “Alexa, [play, pause, resume, fast-forward, rewind, stop] on Fire TV.”
10. Search movies and TV shows on Fire TV: “Alexa, search for [insert movie/TV show name] on Fire TV” or simply ask “Alexa, find [insert movie/TV show name] on Fire TV”
11. Find more movies by an actor: “Alexa, show me titles with Leonardo Di Caprio on Fire TV”
12. Open an app: “Alexa, launch [insert name of the app] on Fire TV”
13. Switch to playstation: “Alexa, switch to playstation on Fire TV”
Best Alexa Commands to fiddle around with Alexa skills
Alexa boasts over 25,000 voice apps in the Alexa Skills Store. That’s a lot of voice apps and this exact feature makes it shine compared with its competitors. For an AI assistant skills are very important since they run a plethora of services ranging from making a payment with American Express, to hailing an Uber ride.
Being a smart assistant, Alexa has learned to help people immensely with skill discovery over the past year itself.
After enabling a skill in the Skills section of the Alexa app, all you have to do is to just say “Alexa, play [insert the name of skill].” Yes, that’s all!
14. So, if you want to Check Stock Prices, say “Alexa, ask opening bell for the price of Apple”. Here, Opening bell is an Alexa skill.
15. Know the Weather
Gutted because of the overcast conditions outside? Fret no more, you can ascertain when to expect a bright sky. To get a weather update, ask “Alexa, what’s the weather like in Melbourne, Australia?” especially if you are someone living outside the U.S. If you reside in the U.S. simply ask, “Alexa, what’s the weather like?” or “Alexa, is it cold outside?” Heck, you can even ask, “Alexa, what’s the room temperature?”
Note: Alexa still goes through some problems whilst giving exact weather details if you reside outside of the U.S.
16. Hail a Cab
Running out of time for a job interview or a party? Alexa can book an Uber ride for you. You just have to say “Alexa, I want a ride” instead of saying “Alexa, open the Uber skill.”
17. Know what movies are playing in your vicinity
Feeling the insatiable pangs to watch the latest sci-fi flick in theatre? Alexa will let you know what movies are currently running in the cinema, just say “Alexa, what movies are playing nearby? and the Echo dot blurts out all the movies that are playing in nearby theatres.
18. Get Traffic details
Feeling iffy about the state of traffic in your city? Don’t want to take your car to work? Wait! You can ask Alexa questions such as “Alexa, what’s the traffic like?” or “Alexa, traffic”. That is all.
Best Alexa Commands for Food
19. Order a pizza: “Alexa, open Domino’s and place an order”
20. If you are a fan of Pizza Hut: “Alexa, tell Pizza Hut to place an order”
21. Ask for recipes: “Alexa, how do you make a pineapple pizza?”
Bonus Skill If you are zoned out about what you’re going make for dinner (thanks to a long winding day at work), you can ask Alexa for some amazing dinner ideas. Simple say: “Alexa, ask My Kitchen what’s for dinner?” and you’re all set!
Best Alexa Commands to get information about a place or a thing
Amazon Echo and Echo dot speakers have the capability of drawing on extensive web searches and navigate to sites such as Wikipedia to accurately answer your questions based on a gamut of topics such as – metric conversions, space facts, hidden sea mysteries or history.
22. Ask about countries, lakes, etc.
For instance, if you want to know the capital of a Balkan country, simply ask “Alexa, what’s the capital of Romania?” or ask questions such as “Alexa, which is the deepest lake in the world?”
23. Ask about books and authors
Want to know who wrote the science fiction book, 2001: A Space Odyssey? Simply ask, “Alexa, who wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey?” and pat comes Alexa’s reply: Arthur C. Clarke.
24. Ask about Mountains and oceans
Most people know Mt. Everest is the highest peak on the planet. So does Alexa, chances are, perhaps even more! Hence, to test its knowledge credentials, you can ask questions such as “what is the second highest mountain peak in the world.” Simply ask “Alexa, what is the second highest mountain peak in the world?” Similarly, you can also ask “Alexa, how wide is the Grand Canyon?”
25. Directly look up Wikipedia information
Want to simply hop into a Wikipedia page of a place, company or a famous person ? Just ask “Alexa, Wikipedia L.A” and Alexa will come up with an extensive history of the city’s past, its population, etc.
26. Know more about your favourite shows/movies
Want to know more about the characters of your favourite sitcom? Just ask, “Alexa, who plays Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory?”
Best Alexa Commands to do online shopping on Amazon and other E-commerce websites
Doing shopping through Alexa is a cinch now. All Amazon Prime members can put Alexa to use for placing orders, and even for cancelling or reordering Prime items from the e-commerce giant.
27. Reorder Products
Interestingly, Alexa remembers your recent purchases, thus you can say “Alexa, reorder shoes” and your AI assistant will understand the specific brand of shoes you prefer and what size suits you the most.
28. Order a new product
Simply blurt out “Alexa, order shoes” and Alexa will suggest a list of probable shoes to purchase or even send in more search results to your smartphone.
29. Add items to your shopping list and groceries
If you want to swiftly slip in some missing items to your shopping list, simply ask “Alexa, add eggs to my shopping list”
30. Check your shopping list
Once your shopping list is ready, you can ask Alexa to list out the items so as to ensure you didn’t miss out on anything. Just say, “Alexa, read my shopping list” and you’re sorted.
Best Alexa Commands of 2020 for Translations
31. Translate from other languages to English
If you have a handbook of an exotic language or a dialogue at the ready, you can ask Alexa to translate it for you. For instance, you can ask “Alexa, translate muy bien gracias to English” and pat comes Alexa’s reply “Very well, thank you”. You can find the translation in your Alexa app as well.
32. Translate from English to other languages
If you are a non-native speaker, you can ask your echo device to translate a sentence to another language, for instance, Spanish. Just say, “Alexa, translate how are you doing to Spanish”.
Again, you can find the translations in your Alexa app as well.
Best Alexa Commands for Audio Books
33. Play Audio books
Another unique, useful and brand new feature that has helped Alexa up the ante on its rivals is the introduction of commands for its signature audio book service called Audible. If you have purchased an audio book from Amazon, you can ask Alexa to read it out to you. For instance, you can ask, “Alexa, play The Count of Monte Cristo on Audible”. Of course, you can slip in the name of any audiobook of your choice.
34. Pause or resume an audiobook: Just say “Alexa, pause” or “Alexa, resume”
35. Skim through chapters in an audiobook: “Alexa, next chapter”, or “Alexa, previous chapter”
36. Go to a specific chapter: “Alexa, go to chapter[insert the number]”
Best Alexa Commands to Play Music
Music buffs rejoice! After a long winding day, you can come back home and play your favourite music as you lay in your bed. Because, Alexa is well-equipped to play millions of songs spanning across plenty of genres from streaming services such as Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music. Quite useful, isn’t it?
37. For listening to your favourite song you just have to say “Alexa, play my favourite tune” and Alexa plays your favourite song instantly. Wait, there’s more in the offing!
38. Check what song is playing
If you have a Spotify playlist, you can ask Alexa to recognize a currently playing song on your speaker. Simply ask, “Alexa, what song is playing?”
39. Change the song
Alexa has become smart enough to change a song as per your whim. Just order, “Alexa, change this song”.
40. Play Spotify Playlists
Spotify premium users can pair their Spotify account with Amazon Echo and derive optimal music experience. If you want to play a specific playlist say BritPop, order: “Alexa, play my BritPop playlist”.
41. Play Music based on your mood/activity
If you happen to use Amazon Music, Alexa can play apt music based on your activity i.e. if you’re working out, studying, cooking, or about to take a nap. For instance, you can ask “Alexa, play psychedelic music” if you want to chill out or are feeling drowsy.
42. Look up music based on genre/artist
If you want to skim through a vast playlist, just order Alexa to play a particular song or any band’s music that is buzzing in your head based on genre or artist. For instance, you can say: “Alexa, play an Oasis song”.
Best Alexa Commands to Read News
43. Know the Latest News
If you are seeking some information or news from Alexa, you can go straight to Flash Briefings section of the Alexa Skills Store or Alexa app. To hear your news briefing, just ask “Alexa, what’s in the news?” and voilà!
44. Get Inspirational Quotes
You can also sprinkle in stuff such as inspirational quotes, devotionals along with your daily news feed. Just ask, “Alexa, what’s the quote of the day” et al.
Best Alexa Commands for Math-related stuff and Calculations
45. Relatively Simple Calculations
Troubled by math-related questions? Now Alexa can solve them for you in a jiffy. No need to whip out your calculator for every complex calculation. Just ask, “Alexa, what’s 973 plus 67? or “Alexa, what’s 79 times 7?”
46. Advanced Math
Alexa has honed itself to solve complex mathematical equations as well. For instance, try saying “Alexa, 43 factorial” and you will be bombarded with a weird combination of decimals and strange numbers that may seem like space-time oddity.
Best Alexa Commands for Definitions and Spellings
47. Figure out spellings
If you want to figure out spellings of complex words, you can ask “Alexa, how do you spell passeggiata”. Of course, you can put in any word.
48. Seek Definitions
You can seek definitions/meaning of strange-sounding words that you are not acquainted with. For instance, you can ask “Alexa, what’s the definition of fjord?”
Best Alexa Commands for Greetings
49. Want Alexa to be a loyal subordinate? Want Alexa to greet you when you get back home after a grinding schedule? You don’t have to try too much. Just say “Alexa, I’m home” and Alexa greets you with a welcome which can be customized.
50. Celebrate someone’s birthday
Alexa can be your partner in celebrating a close one’s birthday. You can ask the echo device to play a happy birthday song by saying “Alexa, sing Happy birthday”.
Best Alexa Commands for Making phone calls and sending texts
Alexa’s Echo and Echo dot devices can make free phone calls to phone numbers in limited countries such as U.S., Canada, and Mexico currently. But, through Alexa’s DropIn function, you can make free voice and video calls to users who too have an Alexa-enabled device at home.
51. To call another user, say, “Alexa, call[insert name]”
52. Answer a phone call: “Alexa, answer” or “Alexa, answer the call”
53. End a call: “Alexa, end the call”, or “Alexa, hang up”
54. Send text messages
If you are feeling a bit too lazy to type in a message to a fellow Alexa-using companion, just blurt out, “Alexa, message [insert name]” or “Alexa, send [insert name] a message”.
55. Read Messages
Alternately, if you want to play unread messages, you can say, “Alexa, play messages”
56. Check Notifications: “Alexa, what did I miss?”
Note Wanna check out some funny Alexa commands? Here are the 250 Best Alexa Easter Eggs that will tickle your funny bone.
Best Alexa Commands for Sports Lovers
57. Get the latest English Premier League standings: “Alexa, what are the EPL standings?”
58. Find out the results of a match: “Alexa, give me my sports update”
59. Figure out who won late last night’s match: “Alexa, did the [insert the name of the team] win?”
60. Check the results of a game: “Alexa, what was the score of the [insert team] match?”
Best Alexa Commands of 2020: Customising Voice Commands (Bonus feature)
Alexa AI now allows you to create custom voice commands and schedule events such as playing news, traffic or weather reports through a feature called Routines which gives it the bandwidth to carry out multiple tasks with one utterance. But, for this, you need to pair up Alexa with a smart dome device, a la Internet-of-Things.
For instance, you can create a “routine” for every time you get home and say “Alexa, I’m home” and the lights turn on. Conversely, you can also say “Alexa, I’m going out” and all the connected smart home devices will turn off.
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And…that’s a wrap! Did you like our list of the 60 Best Alexa Commands of 2020? Did we miss out on any great commands that you know of? Sound off in the comments section.
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