The Best Tricks You Can Do With Two or More Amazon Alexa Devices - CNET

1 year ago 83

This story is part of Home Tips, CNET's collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.

If one Amazon Echo smart speaker is great for listening to commands and performing helpful tasks that automate your day, just imagine what magic could happen if you pair it with another Echo speaker or display. One is just never enough, right? Because there are some unique functions you can set up if you have several Alexa devices in your home.

And while you only need two devices to perform these tasks, you can certainly add more (or even put a device in every room). We'll walk you through the four coolest things you can do with two or more Amazon Alexa devices below.

1. Play music simultaneously across all devices

With the Multi-Room Music feature in the Alexa app, you can play music across all your Echo speakers so that you can listen from any room with an Echo.

To get started, open the Alexa app and select Devices. Next, tap the Plus icon and choose Combine Speakers. Select Multi-Room Music and then follow the onscreen instructions to finish setup.

2. Drop in on all your Echo speakers at the same time

Whether you're in a different room, or out of the house entirely, Amazon's Drop-In feature can help you quickly get in touch with someone at home. And if you have multiple speakers, you can drop in on your devices at the same time.

For example, if you have an Echo Show in your kitchen and an Echo Dot in your basement, you can start talking on both of them. Just say, "Alexa, drop in on all devices" to get started.

3. Turn your living room into a home theater

Similar to listening to music across your devices, you can do the same with your TV. Using your Echo speakers, you can turn your living room into a home theater. To do so, you'll need to connect your Echo devices to a smart TV or Fire Stick.

Note that this works best with one of the speakers designed for high-quality sound, like an Echo Studio or an Alexa-compatible soundbar.

a white Echo Dot with Clock and black Echo Dot on a shiny table

4. Make announcements and set reminders across all your Echo devices

If you need to set a reminder for yourself or make an announcement that everyone in your house can hear, it's easier to hear when you have multiple speakers set up around your house. After all, if you only have one Echo speaker, you may not hear an announcement or reminder if you step into a different room.

To make an announcement across all your Amazon Echo devices, open the Alexa mobile app and select Settings > Device Settings > device name > Communications > Announcements. This will allow you to manage the announcement settings for each device associated with your account. From here, you can say, "Alexa, make an announcement," or, "Alexa, tell everyone [X]" and, "Alexa, broadcast [X]."

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For reminders, select Reminders & Alarms from the Alexa app menu. Tap Reminders and select Add Reminder. Type the reminder, date and time you'd like the announcement to be made. Tap Announces From and select All Devices. Now when you set a reminder, Alexa will broadcast it across all your Echo speakers.

For more Alexa tips, here's how much it'll cost you to build an entire Alexa smart home and four places to avoid putting your Amazon Echo in your home.