When you have just started to use Amazon Alexa and Echo devices, it can be a bit difficult to set it up just how you want it. However it can all be controlled from your Amazon Alexa account

With this guide, you will learn some of the settings you can change to adapt the services Alexa offers to your needs.

Settings like:

• music providers
• Do Not Disturb
• Shipment notifications from Amazon
• Alexa whisper mode
• Alexa Guard

First, you need to install the Alexa app on your smartphone and enable your Echo device. Then you can change every setting in detail.

Enable music providers from the Amazon Alexa account

Depending on the country you live in, you will find different services like Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, SiriusXM, TIDAL, VEVO, and radio services like TuneIn, iHeart Radio, and Pandora.

Consider that Amazon Music and TuneIn skills are already enabled. All you have to do is confirm your account.

• Open the Alexa app on your smartphone.
• Tap the “Play” button.
• Now scroll to find and select “MANAGE YOUR SERVICES”.
• Here you can select “Default Services” and set default service for Music, Artist & Genre Stations and Podcasts.
• By selecting “Link New Service”, you can add other services you use, like Pandora, Spotify, and much more.

Turning the “Do Not Disturb” mode on/off for a specific Echo device

For Alexa and the features it offers, “Do Not Disturb” is great when you don’t want to receive notifications or alerts for incoming messages, calls, reminders, and even DropIn’s.

To turn on and of the “Do Not Disturb” mode these are the steps you need to follow:

• First, open the Alexa app on your smartphone.
• Now select the option “Devices”.
• Select “Echo & Alexa” and then the device where you want to turn it on/off.
• Now click “Do Not Disturb” and now you can toggle it on or off.

Consider that you can schedule it once turned on, and also it doesn’t block alarms and timers you have already set.

Modifying the setting of Shipment notifications from Amazon

If you want to enable notifications from Alexa for the shipment and delivery details of orders made through Amazon. Or maybe have enabled them by mistake and want to turn them off, what you need to do is what follows:

1. Open the Alexa app and go to the menu ☰
2. Now select “Settings” and next “Notifications”.
3. Find and select “Amazon Shopping”.
4. Now toggle off every notification you don’t want to receive.

Once you turn them all off, Alexa won’t notify you anymore, not even a delivery notification.

How to make Alexa whisper

It is a great feature to be able to make your Amazon Echo device whisper. In case you don’t want to disturb the others, and the only way to make it talk by whispering, Alexa can whisper back. The steps you need to follow to activate this mode are these:

• Open the Alexa app on your smartphone and then open the menu ☰.
• Now open the “Settings” and select the option “Voice Responses”.
• Here you can enable the “Whisper Mode”.
• Once you do this, speak to your Amazon Echo device by whispering, and the response you receive will be in the same way.

You can do the same from your smartphone with the Alexa app, but this does not mean that every time you wake it and make a request, it will whisper unless you do so.

Add protection to your house with Alexa Guard

The free and Amazon developed security-oriented Alexa Skill is the one called Alexa Guard. All you got to do to activate it from your Amazon Alexa account is this:

• Open the Alexa app.
• Go to the menu.
•  Open settings and select the Guard option at the bottom.
• Now follow the instructions to activate it and modify its settings.

Once this is done, every time you leave your house, you just have to say to your Echo device “Alexa, I’m leaving”, and it will turn on this feature. What it can actually do is listen for braking noises, like glass for example (what is expected to happen if there are intruders at your house), or fire and smoke alarms, and will send you a notification every time it listens to these sounds. Even though it isn’t the perfect guard, it still is useful in many cases. For more features, you can always activate the Guard Plus option.

In case you think what Amazon Alexa already offers is not enough, you can always create your own Skills.

With Ipervox you can create your own Alexa Skill, even without coding knowledge. All you need to do is click “Start for Free”, and start building your Alexa Skills in a few simple steps.