Amazon Alexa and Echo FAQ

echo_one

I’ve tried to get the alexa app to the iPhone using a second account with uk address. They require uk credit card details. No way to get aroun it it seems.

Anyone got any other ways to get the app to the phone

adox

echo_one wrote: »

I’ve tried to get the alexa app to the iPhone using a second account with uk address. They require uk credit card details. No way to get aroun it it seems.

Anyone got any other ways to get the app to the phone

when it asks for payment details cancel out of the registration. It should still leave you in the UK store. Click to download a free app(Alexa!) and it will then ask you to register again. You should then have an option not to add any payment details.

long_b

I've updated the Alexa app on the phone but it's not got anything to do with calling on it and now I am ashamed

echo_one

adox wrote: »

when it asks for payment details cancel out of the registration. It should still leave you in the UK store. Click to download a free app(Alexa!) and it will then ask you to register again. You should then have an option not to add any payment details.

Thanks man. But still forces you to enter credit card. No way to cancel it. Seems they want h details but say they won’t charge you for free apps

adox

echo_one wrote: »

Thanks man. But still forces you to enter credit card. No way to cancel it. Seems they want h details but say they won’t charge you for free apps

Maybe it’s changed so. It’s a while since I set up a UK account but that’s how I remember doing it.

adox

echo_one wrote: »

Thanks man. But still forces you to enter credit card. No way to cancel it. Seems they want h details but say they won’t charge you for free apps

So I just tried this and it still works.

Log out of existing account. Set up new account with location set to UK. Register all the way to payment option which it will require. Then keep pressing back until it cancels the registration. It should then bring you to the UK store but not logged in. Select a free app and then it will ask you to log in or set up a new ID.
Set up a new account with an email you haven’t used before and when you come to payments options instead of just two - credit card and PayPal, there will be a “none” option. Click that.

echo_one

adox wrote: »

So I just tried this and it still works.

Log out of existing account. Set up new account with location set to UK. Register all the way to payment option which it will require. Then keep pressing back until it cancels the registration. It should then bring you to the UK store but not logged in. Select a free app and then it will ask you to log in or set up a new ID.
Set up a new account with an email you haven’t used before and when you come to payments options instead of just two - credit card and PayPal, there will be a “none” option. Click that.

Man thanks. I’ve been retrying the new one each time. I’ll let you know

Hellrazer

Hellrazer wrote: »

Anyone else having problems with tunein??
Just keep getting the "I'm not quite sure how to help you with that" error message.
Only since yesterday.

Anyone ? My heads melted trying to fix this.

EagererBeaver

Hellrazer wrote: »

Hellrazer wrote: »

Anyone else having problems with tunein??
Just keep getting the "I'm not quite sure how to help you with that" error message.
Only since yesterday.

Anyone ? My heads melted trying to fix this.

Works fine for me.

Hellrazer

Got it sorted.Looks like the trigger word has changed when I updated the app.

It will play now if I say "Alexa Play xxxFM on Tunein radio"
I used to just say play xxxfm on tunein and it worked.

I wish they`d stop doing that!!!

degsie

Hellrazer wrote: »

Got it sorted.Looks like the trigger word has changed when I updated the app.

It will play now if I say "Alexa Play xxxFM on Tunein radio"
I used to just say play xxxfm on tunein and it worked.

I wish they`d stop doing that!!!

How does updating the android/ios app effect the voice commands? The echo has it's own firmware and the voice processing probably happens on the backend servers.

Hellrazer

degsie wrote: »

How does updating the android/ios app effect the voice commands? The echo has it's own firmware and the voice processing probably happens on the backend servers.

Honestly?I havent a clue.I have to be doing something wrong somewhere.
I just googled "Tunein not working on echo" and found a link saying to try a different trigger word and it just worked.
Maybe I updated to the wrong version--a US apk instead of a UK one??

Anyone got the latest UK apk that they could send me a link to--cant find it on the Irish android store?

echo_one

adox wrote: »

So I just tried this and it still works.

Log out of existing account. Set up new account with location set to UK. Register all the way to payment option which it will require. Then keep pressing back until it cancels the registration. It should then bring you to the UK store but not logged in. Select a free app and then it will ask you to log in or set up a new ID.
Set up a new account with an email you haven’t used before and when you come to payments options instead of just two - credit card and PayPal, there will be a “none” option. Click that.

Sorry to bother you again reading this again and going by your orocesss I’ll be effectively setting up two uk accounts?

adox

echo_one wrote: »

Sorry to bother you again reading this again and going by your orocesss I’ll be effectively setting up two uk accounts?

You won’t have any account set up the first time as you should be cancelling it out when you get to the payment options screen.

If you google it, it will probably be better explained than I’m doming but it’s pretty easy to do.

echo_one

adox wrote: »

You won’t have any account set up the first time as you should be cancelling it out when you get to the payment options screen.

If you google it, it will probably be better explained than I’m doming but it’s pretty easy to do.

I got it. Thanks very much for all that

adox

So I’m having trouble getting Alexa to play specific albums on Spotify without sayin On Spotify. I don’t remember it like this before.

If I say “Alexa play the album The Wall by Pink Floyd”she will say she can’t find an album called The Wall by Pink Floyd, but if I add On Spotify to the end she plays it no,problem. Everything else seems to work as normal with Spotify I.E I don’t have to annoyingly add “On Spotify” to the end of the command.

Anyone got the albums playing with saying “On Spotify”?

kennM

adox wrote: »

So I’m having trouble getting Alexa to play specific albums on Spotify without sayin On Spotify. I don’t remember it like this before.

If I say “Alexa play the album The Wall by Pink Floyd”she will say she can’t find an album called The Wall by Pink Floyd, but if I add On Spotify to the end she plays it no,problem. Everything else seems to work as normal with Spotify I.E I don’t have to annoyingly add “On Spotify” to the end of the command.

Anyone got the albums playing with saying “On Spotify”?

I had that issue and if memory serves it was dependent on the location of your Amazon account. If it was UK based you didnt need to specify.... if it was US based then you needed to specify "on spotify". I have my Echo and dots over a year now so it may have changed since..... I dont need to say On Spotify at all.

There are probably answera to that questions burried in thread somewhere. Hope this helpa

adox

kennM wrote: »

I had that issue and if memory serves it was dependent on the location of your Amazon account. If it was UK based you didnt need to specify.... if it was US based then you needed to specify "on spotify". I have my Echo and dots over a year now so it may have changed since..... I dont need to say On Spotify at all.

There are probably answera to that questions burried in thread somewhere. Hope this helpa

Thanks. I’m on a UK account. Always have been. Just experimenting some more and now all my commands seem to require “On Spotify “ :rolleyes:

iamtony

adox wrote: »

Thanks. I’m on a UK account. Always have been. Just experimenting some more and now all my commands seem to require “On Spotify “ :rolleyes:

I’ve given up trying to get specific albums, I must be doing something wrong. I get fed up and just say play pink floyd or whatever and live with that. I’ve always had to say on Spotify in fairness.
Nothing to do with music specifically but I find I’m getting the “hum I don’t know the answer to that” way too often. In the app it will say it searches bing for an answer but surely it could do better.
Besides things I know it does, or commands I just read about and used it’s actually quite stupid compared to asking Siri or ok google on my Android phone. Shame.

iamtony

Even the weather issue. Instead of “I can’t find that location” why doesn’t she say do you want to set Dublin as the default for weather” seems like it would be easy to implement. Just like saying to Siri call my girlfriend and then she asks who is she from your contacts and then it’s sorted for next time.

adox

Won’t play anything for me now without saying On Spotify.

I’m now says “you Amazon music marketplace is not configured correctly for this device”

WTF? I hope this is just a glitch. It was I use it for most.

d31b0y

Have a look in the Alexa settings and make sure Spotify is still set to the default player. Maybe an update caused it to reset to Amazon Music.
Menu -> Settings -> Music & Media -> Choose default

Anatom

Just a question about playing music on the Echo.

If I get a Dot as well and place it upstairs, when I play music on the Echo downstairs can I get the Dot to play the same thing at the same time or is it one or the other? Are they easy to sync? Is it only one of them which will take instructions, or will I be able to use both to switch songs/change volume?

kennM

Anatom wrote: »

Just a question about playing music on the Echo.

If I get a Dot as well and place it upstairs, when I play music on the Echo downstairs can I get the Dot to play the same thing at the same time or is it one or the other? Are they easy to sync? Is it only one of them which will take instructions, or will I be able to use both to switch songs/change volume?

It's a relatively new feature/software update that has been added where you can group a number of devices together. Only certain features will work, e.g. TuneIn... Spotify won't do it yet.

I can say "play BBC Radio 1 everywhere" and it'll play on all of them. Configurable through the app.

adox

d31b0y wrote: »

Have a look in the Alexa settings and make sure Spotify is still set to the default player. Maybe an update caused it to reset to Amazon Music.
Menu -> Settings -> Music & Media -> Choose default

Yeah double checked that and nothing had changed. Sent Amazon and email last night. didnt hear back but this morning I gave it another go and everyhting is now working fine again!

first world problems.

moonboy52

adox wrote: »

Won’t play anything for me now without saying On Spotify.

I’m now says “you Amazon music marketplace is not configured correctly for this device”

WTF? I hope this is just a glitch. It was I use it for most.

Same thing happened to me last night.

I unlinked Spotify and re-linked it and it is working now.

It was the default service selected when the issue occured

bk

To be honest, I've gotten progressively fed up with Alexa, she just isn't that Smart. I have to say "On Spotify" and "In Dulbin", etc. all the time. There just isn't much consistency with it.

GHome is much "smarter" IMO and has little or no trouble with any questions asked. So I think I'm going to move over completely to GHome.

Which is a pity as hardware wise I think Amazon makes some very nice devices. The new Echo looks great IMO and the show and spot look like cool devices too. But the AI just isn't as well developed IMO.

irishgrover

bk wrote: »

To be honest, I've gotten progressively fed up with Alexa, she just isn't that Smart. I have to say "On Spotify" and "In Dulbin", etc. all the time. There just isn't much consistency with it.

GHome is much "smarter" IMO and has little or no trouble with any questions asked. So I think I'm going to move over completely to GHome.

Which is a pity as hardware wise I think Amazon makes some very nice devices. The new Echo looks great IMO and the show and spot look like cool devices too. But the AI just isn't as well developed IMO.

it's very hard to argue with this post. I love the integration and all, and have lights and plugs and all my heating etc linked up...but at the end up the day her ability to act as an integration hub is great, but I can't shake the feeling that the AI part is pretty unintelligent. If only Amazon and Google would make friends... Alexa could be really great

The Black Oil

Don't currently own any voice activated units like those discussed here. Just have a few Hue lights. Was considering a Dot, or a new Echo. Also thinking of a Google Home Mini, but slightly put off by the switch re mute/unmute (well, based on a review). Feedback here is useful too re the quality of the smartness. :P Presume none of these are really available in Irish shops.

long_b

Anyone know where to get the updated apk with calling? Link on Amazon UK opens the Play Store which just says "app not available in your country"