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Alexa - what do you use yours for?

(88 Posts)
Luckygirl3 Sat 14-Jun-25 14:18:38

I have just acquired and Echo Dot and it is mostly functioning as a better speaker for music from spotify. And it will play The Archers when I ask.

Tell me what I can do with it please! - what do you find the most useful things?

kittylester Sun 15-Jun-25 07:29:51

I don't have an iPad, Bkuebelle, can you just say 'set a timer for 10 minutes' or do you have to find an app and press buttons?

BlueBelle Sun 15-Jun-25 05:29:47

Catterygirl but you could just set the timer on your iPad
🤣🤣 how funny

Madmeg Sun 15-Jun-25 01:47:03

She tells me when parcels are due from Amazon. If you ask "Alexa, are there any announcements?".

pably15 Sun 15-Jun-25 00:10:15

I listen to all my favourite golden oldies...

Catterygirl Sat 14-Jun-25 23:44:47

I use Alexa as a timer mainly when cooking as I settle into my iPad and tend to forget what I have left on our crazy hob. The kitchen is quite far away. I ask her the time in Portland, Oregon before I contact my old friend.

henetha Sat 14-Jun-25 23:43:54

I ask mine to sing to me and she does. Quite funny songs sometimes.

garnet25 Sat 14-Jun-25 23:35:54

We have three which enables me to add to my shopping list wherever I am in the house. We also use them for radio listening, weather forecasts, traffic reports and as timers.

BlueBelle Sat 14-Jun-25 22:52:26

But you can do all that on an iPad !

MiniMoon Sat 14-Jun-25 22:50:46

We have then in every room except the bathroom. I use ours to listen to the radio, get a weather forecast, shopping list, spellings. I also ask for language translations, recipes, cooking timings.
Look on the Alexa app for skills, there are loads of things to try. Sleep sounds is good if you have trouble falling asleep.

kittylester Sat 14-Jun-25 22:10:24

Dh uses a bedroom one to play sleep sounds to override his tinnitus which was keeping him awake.

Floradora9 Sat 14-Jun-25 22:02:17

We use ours every day frequently . You can set it to remind you of an appointment weeks away ( we set it to tell you at breakfast time ) . We do not use a radio at all just Alexa and my son shares his Spotify membership so loads of classical music for free. My very favourite thing is to use it at bedtime to read any book I have on Kindle or , when I have a membership , from Audible . If I waken in the night I do not have to put on a light just ask her to read my book and I set a sleep timer in case I fall asleep and miss too much.
To-day with family someone said he thought he heard a fox in their garden making a stange noise. We asked Alexa what sound a fox makes and she imitated it . When I am composing any kind of written work I jusr ask her how to spell a word and there it is . I love her .

Jane43 Sat 14-Jun-25 22:01:08

My husband uses it to remind him to take his tablet at 8pm.

Millie22 Sat 14-Jun-25 21:55:33

Listening to the radio
Playing music as I have a playlist
Weather forecast and temperature
Spellings if I can't remember a word
I also say night night to Alexa

Abitbarmy Sat 14-Jun-25 21:37:32

All of the above plus calculations, travelling distances, times in other countries if thinking of a phone call to relatives, weight conversions, word meanings, spellings etc. etc. we have the dot plus echo show . I’d be lost without them!

Marg75 Sat 14-Jun-25 21:37:04

We use it to speak to our daughter. It's lovely to actually see her and chat.

kittylester Sat 14-Jun-25 21:21:36

I forgot that our doorbell is linked to it. That's a good feature.

We pay for music through Spotify so we don't get the adverts but listening to most radio stations is free. I would hate to be without ours.

Ziggy62 Sat 14-Jun-25 20:59:19

Timer when I'm cooking
Shopping list (very helpful)
Listened to radio when I'm cooking/cleaning
Listening to music

merlotgran Sat 14-Jun-25 20:50:46

I probably don’t use mine for as much as I could. At the moment it’s mostly for music - radio, playlists, searching for albums etc., kitchen timer (invaluable) and shopping lists. My doorbell is on the blink so I’m thinking of replacing it with one that will link to the echo dot.

keepingquiet Sat 14-Jun-25 20:47:55

I did have one but not now. I only used it for a timer because everything esle you had to pay for if you wanted any choice, and also if it's always on it's always listening...

I don't miss it at all.

BlueBelle Sat 14-Jun-25 20:42:41

Sago

You can ask her to call other Alexa’s, great to know in an emergency.

🤣that wouldn’t help I don’t know anyone with one

Oldbat1 Sat 14-Jun-25 20:42:00

Listen to radio. Timer. Amazon delivery arriving. Weather. Sleep music.

Sago Sat 14-Jun-25 19:45:59

You can ask her to call other Alexa’s, great to know in an emergency.

ginny Sat 14-Jun-25 19:13:15

Several of the above. My favourite is for my shopping list. When Irun out of something or think of something I need I just ask her to add it to my list.

Shinamae Sat 14-Jun-25 18:57:54

I find mine excellent for timers and reminders..

Grandmadinosaur Sat 14-Jun-25 18:46:04

Thank you Grandmabatty I’ll check that one out.