Amazon Alexa is a powerfulvoice assistant. Along with dishing out commands to your smart home devices or updating you on the latest news, Alexa can function as a pretty robust alarm clock. From setting reminders for later in the day to waking you up with music, there’s a lot of functionality packed into the assistant.
Before you’re able to start using all these Alexa alarm clock features, you’ll need to know how to activate them. And unless you know exactly how to trigger the actions, it can be tricky to figure out how it all works. Here’s a comprehensive look at how to use all Amazon Alexa alarm clock features, including setting a one-time alarm, setting alarms on connected devices, and triggering a recurring alarm that activates with music.
A comprehensive list of all Alexa alarm clock voice commands
We’ll examine the best commands in detail later on, but here’s a look at every Alexa voice command that triggers an alarm (remember to say “Hey, Alexa” before giving each line):
Set a one-time alarm
This is one of the simplest Alexa commands, and you can set an alarm whenever you want, for any specific time. Just say, “Alexa, set an alarm for [time].”
Remember to be specific about whether you want the alarm for a.m. or p.m., or Alexa will choose the closest time by default.
If you aren’t as concerned about setting an alarm for a specific time on the clock but want one for a certain duration, you’re able to instead say, “Alexa, set a timer for [number] [minutes/hours/etc.].”
Set an alarm connected to smart device activities
If you have smart devices connected to Alexa, you may also say, “Alexa, set a light alarm for [time] with my [name of smart light].”
This works with a variety of devices that Alexa can recognize around the house. You can also set up more complex, recurring smart alarms, but this may be easier to do with a routine, which we will go over below.
Set an alarm to specific music
For an alarm that plays music, you’ll want to say, “Alexa, set an alarm for [time] to [music, genre, or song].”
You can say a wide variety of songs, artists, etc., as long as Alexa is able to recognize them.
Currently, it’s easier to program a music alarm with your voice than with the Alexa app, so we suggest going this route if a music alarm is important to you. By default, your Alexa will link with your Amazon music account. If you don’t have any Amazon music services active, it’s a good idea to switch your default account to a service you do use. Here’sour guide on how to switch over to Apple Music, but the basic steps will work with any major music service.
Set daily recurring alarms
Setting a single alarm or timer is useful in many circumstances. But if you want to use Alexa as your daily alarm clock for waking up or similar situations, you’ll need to create a recurring alarm instead. This is one task that’s a bit easier to do with the Alexa app, so let’s take a look at how to create one.
Step 1: Open your Alexa app. On the home screen, select theMorebutton down on the bottom-right.
Step 2: SelectAlarms & Timersfrom the menu. Now selectAdd Alarm.
Step 3: You can now select a specific time for your alarm, then choose a device (such as your Echo) for the alarm to sound on.
Pay close attention to theRepeatsection, which you will need to select to find new options for recurring alarms. You can choose to set the alarm for every day, just for weekdays, for select days (such as days you have morning classes), and so on.
Step 4: You can also choose from a variety of sounds based on the device that you are using. Once you have found a sound you like, selectSaveon the top-right, and your new recurring alarm will be created.
Set a morning news alarm (or other smart alarm)
Would you prefer to wake up to the morning news or a similar report? You can do this with Alexa, but you will have to create a routine instead of an alarm. Here’s exactly how to do it.
Step 1: Open the Alexa app, select theMorebutton in the bottom-right, and then selectRoutinesfrom the new menu that opens.
Step 2:InRoutines, select thePlusSignin the upper-right to start creating a new routine. To begin, selectWhen This Happens. In the next menu, selectSchedule(we know it makes more sense to selectAlarms, but it doesn’t work that way).
Step 3: InSchedule, chooseAt Timeto set a specific time. You can also chooseSunriseif you always wake up with the sun, but for most people, choosing a specific time is best.
Step 4: Now, you can pick what days the week the action is the schedule (all days are highlighted at first) and what specific time you want the alarm to go off. When finished, selectNext.
Step 5: Now review your alarm and selectAdd Actionto tell Alexa what to do. You’ll note a lot of different actions here. We encourage you to look through, as you can add any of these actions as your alarm, including smart devices around the home (like turning lights on) or weather, calendar, and traffic reports — you can even set up a music alarm here, too, if you prefer. But if you’re only interested in getting the news report, scroll down and selectNews.
Step 6: If you’ve already set up a Flash Briefing with Alexa, that Briefing will now play as your alarm. If not, you can set up a Flash Briefing to include reports from your favorite news sources, which Alexa will summarize while reviewing the top headlines of the day. SelectNextone more time, then selectChoose Deviceto pick the Alexa device the alarm will sound from. SelectSave, and you’re done!
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