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

Lonely this Valentine’s Day? Alexa can help you feel better

Alina Bradford
By

Valentine’s Day doesn’t need to be lonely this year. You have Alexa, and even though Amazon’s virtual assistant isn’t a real person, there are a lot of ways Alexa can help you through this February 14. Here are some things to try if you find yourself feeling down.

Related Videos
Amazon Echo Dot with broken hearted robot

Link up, even when you’re far apart

Seeing a friendly face is always a good way to boost your spirits. Even if you and your best friends, family member, or sweetheart are separated by miles or trapped at home with a cold, you can all still feel like you’re in the same room, chatting it up by using your video-enabled Alexa device to make video calls. Though you’ll get the best experience with an Echo Show, you and your loved one can use the Alexa app to make video calls, too. Just go to the app, tap on the person you want to contact and choose the video chatting option.

Use your imagination

If reading a trashy novel to give yourself vicariously the romance you need isn’t your thing, then maybe try a game. The Alexa skill MyCrush by Is It Love? is a kind of mashup between the Sims video game crossed with a Choose Your Own Adventure book combined with a romance novel. All played out in your imagination, though, with a little help from Alexa. Using the skill, you go on dates with imaginary people and choose how the romance progresses.

Listen to a story

If there’s nothing on TV and you’re sitting around bemoaning your love life, have Alexa tell you a story to occupy your night. The Story Stream skill has stories in many different genres to suit your mood, including paranormal, thrillers, horror, Creepypasta, sci-fi and comedy.

Do something for someone

Sometimes helping someone else can boost your spirits like nothing else. You can show a little love to someone in need this Valentine’s Day with the help of the Daily Kindness skill. It gives 50 different suggestions on how you can randomly help a person around you.

Share the love

Even if you don’t have a romantic love, it doesn’t mean you can’t share love this Valentine’s Day. The Share Worldwide skill is basically an audio message board. You can listen to the message the last person left and leave your own for others to hear. It’s a great way to spread kindness and uplifting messages between strangers anonymously. It’s a little connection that can make you, and others, feel good, no matter what day it is.

Another way to share love is by sending kind notes to others. The Hallmark Valentine’s Greeting Blueprint for Alexa allows you to create and send greetings to your loved ones and friends in just a few minutes. You can send audio clips that are pre-made or create your own.

Have a conversation

Alexa can also get your mind off your worries with some silly talk and there’s plenty of things to talk about. Here’s our list of weird things you can ask Alexa, the funniest things to ask Alexa and the best Alexa Easter eggs.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Alexa can save your life by telling you if severe weather is coming
Alexa in a storm

Tornados, like the one that recently hit Nashville, Tennessee, can happen any time of year, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. They can also occur just about anywhere in the country. Early warning is important with an impending tornado, or any type of major weather event such as flooding, strong winds, and hail because it gives you time to take shelter. While you can get severe weather alerts through your phone with apps, Alexa has a new feature that may save lives as well.

Now you can get severe weather alerts from Alexa, which can be particularly useful if you tend to have your phone on silent while you sleep or work.  To set up the feature say, “Alexa, tell me when there’s a severe weather alert.” The next time there is a local severe weather warning, Alexa will let you know. Don't worry, if you find you don't like the alerts, you can turn them off by simply saying, "Alexa, turn off severe weather alerts."

Read more
Use your smart speaker to make Valentine’s Day a little sweeter
Alexa and Google Assistant can be the perfect Valentine's Day helpers
Amazon Echo dressed up for Valentine's Day

This year, there's no better wingman for your Valentine's Day than Alexa or Google Assistant. They can help you make the perfect dinner plans, order flowers, share your love across the world, or come up with the perfect drink. Here's how to use your smart speakers to light a spark this February 14.

Send a greeting
No matter how far away your sweetheart or loved one is, you can still send them some extra special greetings on Valentine's Day. The Hallmark Valentine's Greeting Blueprint skill for Alexa helps you create the perfect audio greeting card and send it to wherever your recipient is. The whole process takes only a few minutes, and if you can't think of the right words, there are some pre-made greetings you can borrow.

Read more
Best fitness skills for your Alexa speaker to help you get into shape
Meet your fitness goals with the help of Alexa
cropped shot of fitness woman working out on exercise bike at the gym. female exercising on bicycle in health club, focus on legs.

Alexa could be your new best friend when it comes to an accountability buddy. She can help you get healthy, lose weight, and stay fit throughout the year, beyond just your New Year's resolution, thanks to her multitude of great skills. Some skills can help you keep track of water consumption and fitness goals, while others provide guided workouts anywhere you can take your Alexa speaker. Here are our picks for the top fitness skills.

MyFitnessPal Lite
If you're new to using your Alexa for fitness, the first skill you should equip is MyFitnessPal Lite. It can track just about any health and fitness goal you have, such as water consumption, calorie intake, steps taken throughout the day, your weight and more. All you need to do is say simple commands like, "Alexa, tell MyFitnessPal to log 1 liter of water," or "Alexa, tell MyFitnessPal to log 10,000 steps." You can also ask Alexa to recall previous logs. Everything is stored to your account, so you can see the data in graph form on the MyFitnessPal website or app.
Fitness Thirty
Fitness Thirty is like having a trainer in your Alexa speaker. You pick  "chest," "cardio," "abs," or "yoga" and then Alexa will call out a workout move for you to do while she counts down 25 seconds. After the 25 second countdown, she gives you a 5-second rest. Then, you can start all over again with a different move. For example, if you choose "abs" she may tell you to hold yourself in a plank position for 25 seconds. After, she'll say, "You deserve a five-second rest," and count down five seconds. Once the rest is over, she will ask you to choose a category again, so you can really mix up your workouts.
Easy Yoga

Read more