How to make and answer calls with Amazon Echo

The Amazon Echo is capable of many things, from turning on the lights to ordering the latest book online. One of the most interesting and useful things you can do with Echo is make and answer phone calls. Echo can receive calls from other Alexa users and make calls just like an ordinary telephone. This is a very useful feature.

If you have an Amazon Echo and your friends or family also have one or have Alexa on their smartphone, you can make free calls using voice control right from your device.

Set up Amazon Echo to make phone calls

Before you can make and answer calls with the Amazon Echo, you need to set everything up first.

You will need to install the Alexa app on your smartphone and link it to your Amazon account and your Echo.

I'll describe the whole process in case you are completely new to Alexa. Here are the steps to set up Echo to make and receive calls:

1. Download the latest version of the Alexa app on your smartphone and install it. From the app itself or a new version, iOS from here and Android from here.
2. Follow the wizard to set it up and grant it permissions to access your phone's data.
3. Add your phone number and allow Alexa to access it. You will be sent a verification code which you will need to respond to for this to work.
4. Once the wizard is complete, you should be able to see a contact icon. Select this option to see which of your phone contacts also has Alexa. You will be able to make calls from Alexa to Alexa with anyone you see in that section.

Making calls with Amazon Echo will use phone data but will not use phone minutes. If you're running out of data for the current month, keep this in mind when making calls with Alexa.

I'm not sure how much data they use to make a call, but make sure you have enough data on your plan to not run out.

Tutorial: How to connect Spotify with Amazon Echo

Make a call with Amazon Echo

You can make a call from Alexa to Alexa or call a landline or mobile phone.

You can use the Alexa or Amazon Echo app. To make a call with Echo, just say "Alexa, call NAME" to call someone in your telephone contacts or "Alexa, call NUMBER " to call a specific phone number.

As long as the contact name is in the phone contacts, Alexa needs to call the Alexa app.

If you're making a call to a non-Alexa user or calling a number, they obviously don't have to be in your contacts. You just have to say "Alexa, call 555-555-5555" or whatever the number is and Alexa will call it.

If you want to make a call from the Alexa app instead, select the conversation screen and select the Contact icon at the top right, select the contact and select the phone icon. Select the camera icon to make a video call.

Answer a call with Amazon Echo

When you get a call on Echo, you will also get the call on your Alexa app. The light ring on the echo should turn green and Alexa will notify you of the call. To answer using the Echo, say "Alexa answer call".

If you want to answer using the app, answer the phone normally.

You don't have to answer the call if you are busy. You can say "Alexa, ignore" and it will. You just have to make your phone ring if you don't want to answer from the app.

Read: How to fix common Alexa / Amazon Echo problems

Send messages with Alexa

Voice messages are another feature of the Alexa app that allows you to send audio messages to someone. These Alexa app voice messages are like pre-recorded voice messages and can be useful for quick updates or messages when you don't have time to make a phone call.

To send a voice message using Echo, say "Alexa, send NAME a message" and say your message out loud. Of course, this assumes that NAME is a name in your contacts.

To send a voice message via the Alexa app, open the conversation window and select the blue microphone icon instead of the phone icon to record a message.

Alexa receives the message the same way it receives a call, the Alexa app will alert your phone and your Echo will light up. You can listen to the message right away or save it for later.

Amazon Echo and Alexa can do more than just listen to music or tell you the weather. If you know other people with the device, you can talk as much as you want without it costing you a dime. You can do all of this from your Amazon Echo or your Alexa app.

Read also: How to connect Amazon Echo to Sonos speakers