Alexa’s Secret Feature That’ll Let You Listen In on Your Home Remotely
Did you know that you can use your Alexa device as your personal fly on the wall to listen in on your home? It's true!
Technology has come a long way. It's wild what our devices can do these days. If you have an Alexa device, you can basically use it as a phone or an ear to your home thanks to the Drop In feature. This is an optional feature that lets you listen in or have conversations with contacts in and outside of your home.
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How to Drop-In on Your Home With Your Alexa Device
According to the Amazon Help Center, it's easy to set up your device to drop in.
- Open the Alexa App
- Select More
- Open Communicate
- Select the Drop In icon
- Select the name of the device you want to drop in on
When you're ready to end the Drop In, touch the screen and select Hang Up. You can also use voice commands like "Alexa, drop in on the kitchen" and have both video and audio conversations.
Does Alexa Make a Noise When You Drop In?
Yes. You'll hear a distinctive tone from your Alexa device when a Drop In connection is made. And, if your device doesn't have a screen it will pulse green.
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This feature allows you to communicate with people both in and outside of your home.
How You Could Use Alexa Drop In Inside Your Home
To communicate with others in a different room: say "Alexa, drop in downstairs" and ask family what's for dinner, or maybe check in on your little one playing in the other room. You can also drop in everywhere if you want to talk to your entire house at once.
How You Could Use Alexa Drop In Outside of Your Home
- Check in on loved ones like parents and grandparents, or maybe the new babysitter watching your kiddos while you're away.
- Talk hands-free while cooking or cleaning.
You can control the Drop In feature in your Alexa app by clicking Communicate, Contacts, My Communication Settings, then choosing on or off.
Is My Alexa Device Spying on Me?
It's important to note that Amazon states that they design these services with our privacy in mind and they "do not store audio/video calls, or information about the content of those calls." Also, connections between Alexa devices and the app are encrypted. But, if you were to use your device to call out and that takes place over a telephone network, that would not be encrypted.
These are all things to keep in mind if you plan on using (or not using) this feature on your Alexa device.
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