If your Amazon Echo can’t hear you from the other room, or if you just want to control it when you’re away from home altogether, you can do so with a handy third-party app.
How to Set Up and Configure Your Amazon Echo
How to Stop Your Amazon Echo from Listening In
The Echo’s far-field voice recognition technology is one of the device’s most touted features, and it allows it to hear your voice from well across the room, even when there’s music playing. However, its biggest hindrance is walls, and if you want to control the Echo from the next room over, it may not hear you. Furthermore, if you’re away from home and you want to give a voice command to the Echo, you obviously can’t.
However, with an app called Roger, you can give your Amazon Echo voice commands through your phone, effectively getting rid of the need for the $30 Voice Remote, too. Here’s how to set it up for use with your Echo.
Roger is available on both iOS and Android, and it’s free to use. After you download and install the app, open it up and tap or raise your phone to your ear to listen to the voice message.
After that, a “Get Started” button will appear on the screen. Go ahead and tap on it.
Enter in your name and then tap on “That’s Me”.
Next, tap on the round “+” button.
Select “Alexa by Amazon”.
On the next screen, tap on “Connect”.
Sign into your Amazon account by entering in your email address and password. Then tap on “Sign into Amazon”.
Tap on “I agree” at the bottom.
You’ll be taken back to the “Conversation” screen where you’ll then tap on the downward-facing arrow in the top-left corner.
Roger is now all set up to be used with your Amazon Echo. Simply tap on the microphone button and say a voice command (you don’t have to say “Alexa”) and then tap the microphone button again when you’re done. From there, the command will be sent to your Echo and it will carry it out like normal.
Of course, the only downside is that it isn’t quite as quick and easy to use as the Voice Remote, and it doesn’t have the always-on listening of the Echo. But if you want a free alternative that you can also use while you’re away from home entirely, then Roger is the app to get.