Amazon’s voice assistant and smart hub known as Alexa has been getting some serious traction. Support for Thread and Matter means it supports a massive ecosystem of other smart device brands; and Amazon’s own brands—Blink, Ring and Fire TV—round out the functionality.
Amazon Echo (1st generation): Setting up
The first step to setting up Alexa is to download the app for Android or iPhone. The first time you log in to Alexa, you will be asked for your Amazon credentials. If you don’t have an Amazon account, you will be guided through the process of setting one up. Remember, there is no charge for having an Amazon account; you will need to subscribe to services to be billed. You will then be asked to confirm your identity and make sure your name is pronounced correctly. You will then be asked to set up your account’s features, and this is where the fun begins.
How much access you give Alexa to information about you determines how much Alexa can help. Alexa asks for access to your contacts, and you can choose to share them or not, with the understanding that if you do, they will be uploaded to Amazon’s server. If you don’t, Alexa will lose some functionality.
Choose whether you want to receive notifications. This is optional, but notifications are part of Alexa's functionality.
