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Alexa Intercom
Amazon’s speaker, Alexa Intercom, allows you to send messages to your family or inform them that dinner is ready. Here’s how you do it.
Since Amazon first enabled voice calling and messaging between its Echo smart speakers.
There have also been different ways for Alexa users to communicate using their Echo speakers, whether with friends or family across the country or the whole house.
How to configure Drop In?
Drop In is a bit different than a voice call, to begin with, because those you let in can pop up whenever they want.
When you enter, the person on the other end does not have to answer, you are automatically connected, and it works as an intercom system.
You can immediately start talking, and you can hear anything that happens near the speaker you have connected with.
If you sign into an Echo Show (from the Alexa app or another Echo Show), you and your Contact will see an opaque glass video that clears after connecting.
To use Drop In, you will need at least one Echo device and one smartphone that already has Alexa installed.
By this app, you can log in to Drop In, but you will not receive a call there. However, you can receive a voice call from Alexa.
First, sign up for Alexa Calls and Messaging. Then, open Alexa on Android or iOS and press the Conversations icon.
(The text bubble in the middle that is at the bottom of the app) and follow the instructions on the screen. Such as entering your first name, last name, as well as your number of the phone.
Drop In must be enabled by default, but to make sure it’s on for a specific speaker, open Alexa, tap on the hamburger icon in the top left, and expand the menu.
Tap on Settings, select the speaker from the list. In General, check that it says On under Drop In. To restrict Drop In calls from your home only, tap Drop In and select My home only.
Allow contacts in Drop In:
- By default, since it could be a reasonably invasive feature and cause serious privacy issues, Amazon doesn’t allow just anyone to use Drop In to contact you.
- Instead, you should enable Drop In for the specific contacts you want to be on your list. You must enable them so that you can access them.
To enable Drop In to a contact, you must:
- Open the Alexa app and also open the Conversations tab.
- Tap the contact icon in the higher right corner (the icon in the shape of a person).
- Select a name from the contact list.
- Tap the button next to Contact.
In case you don’t want to use Drop In temporarily, you can enable the Do Not Disturb option.
To use Drop In, you have to say: “Alexa, go to (contact name).” You can also manually log into Drop In from the Alexa app when you open the conversations tab and do the following:
Select your conversation with a contact who has allowed you to access and then tap Drop In on the top’s blue bar.
Touch the Contacts button in the upper right corner. Select a contact and tap on the Drop In logo below the Contact’s name.
How can we use the Amazon Echo as a home intercom?
- You must first correctly name your Echo devices. Here, go to the settings for each Echo device and stretch it to a room name like Living Room, Kitchen, or Office.
- Once the speakers have the names, speak up and say, “Alexa, come into the living room.” The Echo in the living room is going to ring like it’s being called.
- After the Alexa app, tap the Conversations tab. Close the screen’s top, and you should see a blue bar with a new icon and the words Drop In.
- (If it doesn’t appear, check that the app is up to date, close it, and reopen it.) Press Drop In and a menu will appear showing your devices at the bottom of the screen.
How to use the Ads?
In addition to calling another Alexa speaker in your home with the intercom feature, Amazon added another feature: Announcements.
This function is similar to the intercom function but instead of calling only one of the other speakers, what it will do is transmit a message to all the speakers.
There are different ways to start getting the message across:
- “Alexa, broadcast.”
- “Alexa, let me know that dinner is ready.”
- “Alexa, tell everyone that it’s time for them to go.”
Everyone who is more or less close to an Alexa speaker in your house will be able to hear the message (with your voice, of course).
These Ads currently only work in the United States and Canada and Amazon’s Echo line of Alexa speakers. However, the company notes that it is working to allow third-party support.
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