Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Amazon’s Echo devices gain group-calling and call captioning features

Kelly Hodgkins
By

Can’t get together with your family this year for Christmas? You are not alone. Instead of gathering for a large holiday celebration, many people are opting to meet virtually. To help people stay connected while apart, Amazon added new audio and video calling features to Alexa and its Echo devices starting today.

With Amazon’s group-calling feature, people can connect to seven friends and family members on a single hands-free video or audio call. All it takes is a single person to create and name a group using Alexa. Once the group is formed, other friends and family members can join by telling Alexa to “Call my (Group Name).” This group-calling feature is available on compatible Echo devices, including the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show.

Amazon also added a new closed captioning feature that is available in both audio and video calls. During the call, Amazon will convert the other person’s voice to text in near real time. Captioning works with U.S. English and is available on all Echo Show devices.

Related

The company also extended its calling features to the Fire tablet allowing kids to call their family and friends. Using the Amazon Kids app on the Fire tablet, kids can make Alexa-to-Alexa voice or video calls to an Echo device or someone with the Alexa app on a mobile device. Kids can only call approved contacts, and parents can manage the approved contact list using the Alexa app.

Recommended Videos

Finally, Amazon Echo Show 8 owners can now join a Zoom or Chime videoconference call using the personal digital assistant. Users can join a meeting by simply asking Alexa to “Join my Zoom meeting” or “join my Amazon Chime meeting.” Don’t feel like taking that Zoom call from your computer? Now you can simply do it from the comfort of your living room.

All of these new audio and video calling features are available starting today, which is good timing given how many people are choosing to stay home for the holidays. Features like these show how connected smart home devices are critical in keeping us together while we’re physically apart.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kelly Hodgkins
Kelly Hodgkins
Contributor
Kelly's been writing online for ten years, working at Gizmodo, TUAW, and BGR among others. Living near the White Mountains of…
The best smart home devices for 2023
An iRobot Roomba 694 next to a wall, vacuuming pet hair.

With hundreds of incredible products available, it can be intimidating to piece together a smart home. From smart displays and smart thermostats to smart light bulbs and video doorbells, not only are there tons of categories to browse, but each category is filled with highly reviewed products that can be difficult to distinguish from one another. If you’re in the market for a new smart home gadget or are just starting your smart home journey, there are tons of factors to consider.

If you need help navigating all the products, here’s a look at the best smart home devices of 2023 across a wide variety of categories. It’s hard to go wrong with products from big names like Ring, Arlo, Amazon, and Google, but if you need a bit more guidance, here are some of our top picks.
Voice assistant

Read more
Ring’s new indoor camera features a built-in privacy shutter
The Ring Indoor Cam mounted on a wall.

Ring is launching a new Ring Indoor Cam on May 24, and it’ll be the first indoor camera in its catalog to include a privacy shutter. The shutter allows you to turn off both the camera and microphone, and it can be easily removed if you don’t need the additional privacy features.

The shutter can’t, however, be remotely activated. This means you’ll need to manually swivel the privacy shutter in front of the camera when you want to use it, then swivel it out of the way when you want to start recording again. Still, as the first Ring Indoor Cam to offer the feature, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Read more
Your Google smart home devices just got a lot less talkative
A person standing in a living room while looking at a Google device.

Smart assistants are an indispensable part of any smart home, making it easy to give hands-free commands and control a variety of gadgets. Google is looking to further streamline the performance of its smart assistant, with the expansion of chime alerts to cut down on how talkative your Google Nest gadgets are when responding to instructions.

For example, after asking Google to turn on a fan, you’ll now be able to hear a quick chime to confirm the assistant has heard your instructions. Previously, confirmation would come in the form of a short sentence, such as “OK, turning on your fan.”

Read more