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Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant recently got an important new skill. She can now recognize individual voices to give personal responses, based on who’s asking her a question.
By setting up Voice Profiles for members of your household, you can have Alexa give personal responses to everyone’s requests. Alexa can know who is asking her a question and tailor her responses to that person.
If you ever have other people in your house, you should take time to set up a Voice Profile so Alexa can serve you best. Alexa can be even more useful with Voice Profiles.
Having a Voice Profile with Alexa means that you can ask her requests unique to you. Ask her what’s next on your calendar. Ask her to play your favorite music. Ask call your friend “Tom.” Ask her for your Flash Briefing. Ask her for your messages.
If you’ve set up a Voice Profile, she’ll know who you are and respond to you personally.
As Alexa adds new skills, having a Voice Profile will become increasingly useful.
What Are Alexa Voice Profiles?
With Voice Profiles, you can teach Alexa your voice. That way she can respond to your requests personally, without confusing you for someone else in your home.
How to Set Up an Alexa Voice Profile for Yourself
To set up a Voice Profile, open the Alexa app on your mobile device. In the menu, choose Settings => Accounts => Your Voice.
Tap the Begin button to set up your Voice Profile. If you have more than one Echo, you can choose which one you want to use to set up your Voice Profile.
The Alexa app will walk you through saying about 10 different phrases. Be sure the room is quiet and that you’re standing near your Echo. After you say each phrase, tap the Next button or Try Again, if you need to repeat the phrase.
When you’re done, Alexa will tell you that you’ve done a great job and you’ll get a notice that your Voice Profile will be ready soon.
After about 1/2 hour has passed, say, “Alexa, who am I?” to be sure she has set up your Voice Profile correctly. She should respond with your name.
How to Set Up a Voice Profile for Someone Else in Your Household
You can have others in your household set up Voice Profiles so they too can share in the fun of personal responses from Alexa.
Have them download and open the Alexa app on their mobile device. Have them sign into the account the Echo is connected to. They can choose “I’m someone else” to set up the app.
They can enter their name, then go to Settings => Accounts => Your Voice and follow the steps outlined above.
Benefits of Using an Alexa Voice Profile
Shopping
Amazon lets you set up a personal code when shopping on Alexa, to make sure others don’t use it to shop for you. When you use a Voice Profile Alexa will recognize your voice, so Alexa won’t need a code when you shop (though you can still have her require one, if you’d like).
Yes, having a Voice Profile means shopping on Amazon is even easier using Alexa.
Amazon Music
If you have an Amazon Unlimited Music plan, Alexa can play music according to your preferences. After you’ve trained Alexa to recognize your Voice Profile, choose your Amazon Music account at the end of the voice training session.
Ask her to play music, or play a station, and Alexa will respond with personal recommendations.
Flash Briefing
You can set up your Flash Briefing in the Alexa app to have her read you the top news stories of the day from your chosen sources.
After you’ve set up your Voice Profile, when you ask Alexa to play your Flash Briefing she will play your personal Flash Briefing and skip any stories you’ve already heard.
Calling
By setting up a Voice Profile, you can ask Alexa to call people from your Contacts (assuming you’ve given permission for the Alexa app to access your Contacts).
If you’re making a call Echo-to-Echo, Alexa will announce who is calling.
Messages
By setting up a Voice Profile, you can ask Alexa to read messages that are left for you on Alexa. She will read messages sent to you.
Your Thoughts
Did you know you can set up Alexa to recognize your voice? Have you set up your Voice Profile with Alexa yet? How will Voice Profiles help you use Alexa?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
