Amazon Alexa, found commonly in Amazon Echos and a variety of other speakers (as well as apps onyour Android phone), is a voice-command smorgasbord. The voice assistant comes with excellent compatibility for your smart home devices, easy links to popular music searches, and generally helpful information whether you’re baking a cake or checking football scores.
Alexa has another specialty that users don’t always make the most of. It’s excellent for home security and handling emergencies. This is one area where voice assistants are particularly useful as they’re always a shout away, and with the right settings, they can handle emergencies quickly. Here’s how to set up your Alexa device to deal with those scenarios.
How to add an Alexa Emergency Contact
Alexa allows you to assign certain kinds of emergency numbers. The voice assistant automatically calls these numbers if you say something like, “Alexa, call for help,” or “Alexa, call emergency” to a device like an Echo Dot or Echo Show. Before you set this up, make sure your contacts app is updated and the Alexa app is on its latest version.
This emergency number activates with any of the “emergency” or “help” commands like in the examples above, as long as you can speak to an Alexa-compatible device with a hands-free command.
Alexa cannot dial 911 directly, but there are paid services that can do so
There isn’t a way to tell Alexa to call 911 directly, and don’t believe any Alexa skills that say otherwise. Emergency numbers have requirements that a voice assistant doesn’t meet and limitations to keep them from being abused, so this isn’t possible. That’s why it’s a good idea to start with emergency help contact numbers from your list.
However, there are some workarounds if you have a landline. Not many do these days. But internet-based solutionslike the Ooma Telocan integrate with an Amazon Echo and all for direct, number-based calls, including calls to 911 during emergency situations. It’s an easy upgrade if you have or need a home-based phone number. The Echo Connect also offered similar phone calls for Echo devices, but Amazon no longer offers it.
Don’t forget about Alexa Guard/Emergency Assist
Alexa also had another emergency option with the dedicated service called Alexa Guard, which had a paid tier that allowed users to call emergency services and more general home security options. But all things change, and Alexa Guard has been discontinued in 2023. In its place is a new service that’s more fitting for emergency contact options: The $6 per month servicecalled Alexa Emergency Assist.
Alexa Emergency Assist is like a professional replacement for an emergency contact. With a subscription, you can say, “Alexa call for help,” and you’re connected immediately with a monitoring center rep who asks what’s going on and contacts emergency services to send responders your way. The subscription allows you to fill out personal information like important medications, medical conditions, access codes, or pet warnings that emergency professionals may need.
At the same time, this service sends message alerts to everyone you listed as your emergency contacts, telling them that you are seeking emergency services and also when your emergency call ends. Finally, it adds smart alerts that are useful when you aren’t at home.
Alexa, ready for emergencies
Along with these powerful options, you may want to review our guide oncommon Amazon Echo problems and how to fix them.
