Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Alexa—the intelligent personal assistant developed by Amazon for their smart voice-enabled wireless speakers.
Just ask, and Alexa not only shops, plays your favorite tunes and reads books for you, she can order you a pizza, talk you through recipes and even control your smart home!
If you live alone, then the possibility of an accident (such as slipping on something and remaining incapacitated on the floor, conscious yet unable to move a finger) most likely has crossed your mind, and the idea of having an AI assistant like Alexa around might be reassuring: after all, help is just a shout away.
Or is it?
Can Alexa Call 911 In An Emergency?
One of the basic functions Alexa does not have is make phone calls for you. Well, not at the moment, at least. This is quite disappointing for people who bought the Echo as a security blanket for themselves in case of an accident, or for elderly parents or grandparents so that they can easily call 911 should they be immobilized.
However, there are several ways around having Alexa make emergency “calls”.
Thanks to third-party add-ons or with the help of other devices, Alexa can alert friends and family should you ever find yourself in an emergency situation.
Alexa + IFTTT
IFTTT (If This Then That), is a free web-based service that lets people create applets (small applications that perform conditional functions) which you can use to notify your loved ones in case of an emergency. Setting it up with Alexa takes only a few clicks.
There are several apps that can do this, but one of the more popular apps is GroupMe, which IFTTT can utilize to send out text messages to your emergency contacts. Click here for instructions on how to set it up with Alexa.
Video Demonstration (it is a little 'different')
Alexa + Ask My Buddy or Mastermind
Ask My Buddy is a free service that Alexa can utilize—activated using voice commands—to send text, email, voice call or all three to your list of emergency contacts. This setup is actually easy to use and is a favourite of seniors and the mobility-challenged: if they needed any help, all they need to do is say a few words.
Mastermind is a similar service that lets you send text messages, make phone calls and a myriad of other commands on your mobile device and television via Alexa.
If you own an Alexa-powered device, you can easily enable these services (also called Alexa skills) directly on Amazon.com.
Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that Alexa can also offer medical advice to save your life—for example, how to perform CPR should someone have a stroke or heart attack—right after it tells the user to call 911 first.
Ask My Buddy - Video?
So can Alexa call 911 in an emergency?
No, not directly, not without the help of third-party apps or other devices. You have to admit though—it’s still a handy thing to have around in case of emergencies.
Can Alexa Make Any Phone Calls?
Now, some of you may be wondering whether or not Alexa can make any phone calls at all. The answer is NO. However, one of Alexa’s skills is to “call” your cell phone should you ever have misplaced it in your house.
Ever spent several frustrating hours looking in every nook and cranny? All you need to do is enable any of these Alexa skills: CallMyLostPhone, Phone Finder for Alexa and many others on Amazon.com.
If you use TrackR, you can now integrate it with Alexa to make your phone ring, and a lot of other cool features as well.
In Conclusion
Alexa currently cannot make phone calls per se, but Amazon has plans of releasing more Alexa-powered devices later ?in 2017, that will allow people to make phone calls by voice command, and also allow users to talk with others who have Alexa devices as well—even possibly with video.
But until that time comes, we’ll all just satisfy ourselves with asking Alexa to dim down the lights, play some good music while we curl up with a good book and a glass of fantastic wine—both of were ordered via Alexa earlier today.
Do you use Alexa? Tell us about any weird or wonderful uses you have for her.? Hopefully they were not emergencies!
I think it would be great if Alexa could make phone call for seniors who cant get to the phone in case of an emergency. There was an 85 year old lady who lived alone, an guy broke into her house, tried to rob her but she had nothing he wanted, so he beat her up badly. It would have saved her life if she could just say” Alexa I need help ” or EDNA =Emergency as Developed Need Assistance…by having that feature or option it EDNA could be a automatic phone call connected to the police department. If would be great if the company made it cheaper for seniors , as there are a lot of baby boomers out there (me included) that would purchase it for themselves or their older parents. I sure hope you guy work on this feature fast and even share it with other companies so everyone will benefit from that feature. Sometimes helping someone save their life is better than collecting money. Money is not always important but saving a life is. Do you realize how many seniors there are in American? I don’t know the exact number but just promoting this feature to AARP database of names would keep you working for a long time and in a lot of money too.
Now, in 2018, Alexa CAN, in fact make phone calls. I have done this with my Alexa and have made calls, to my Mom and brother, (who have Alexa devices), and friends (who do not have Alexa devices). So the answer is bow: 3xa can make calls.