How to use the alexa voice assistant on your amazon fire tv

Enable voice assistance on your Kindle Fire

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Want to use your Kindle Fire tablet with Alexa? Amazon’s voice assistant app is compatible with 4th generation Fire tablets and later. If you have an Amazon Fire HD 6, Fire 7, Fire 8, or Fire HD 10 tablet, setting up voice assistance is as easy as downloading an app.

These instructions apply to the standard, HD, and HDX models of the Amazon Fire family.

Which Fire Tablets Support Alexa?

In 2014, Amazon released Fire 6 HD, which is when the Kindle Fire was officially re-branded as simply Fire. All Fire tablets made since then (the 4th generation and on) include support for the Alexa Voice Assistant, but newer models support more features than older ones.

You can see which generation Fire tablet you have by going to Settings > Device Options and looking under Device Model.

Your Fire tablet’s generation refers to the year it was made. The first generation of the Kindle Fire came out in 2011, so Fire tablets made in 2018 are part of the eighth generation. The number in your tablet’s name (e.g. Fire 7 or Fire HD 10) refers to the screen size.

If you have an older Kindle Fire, you can download the Alexa app, but you’ll be unable to use it.

How to Enable Alexa on Your Fire Tablet

To enable Alexa on your Fire tablet:

From your Home screen, swipe right until you get to the Apps page and then search for “Alexa.”

Download the Amazon Alexa app.

After it automatically installs, tap Amazon Alexa on your Home screen to launch it.

Enter your name and tap Continue.

Set up phone verification by entering your phone number and confirming the code sent to you.

Alternatively, you can tap SKIP and set up phone verification later; just tap the speech bubble at the bottom of the Alexa app home screen.

After a brief tutorial, you can start making the most of Amazon’s voice assistant.

How to Use Your Fire Tablet With Alexa

To control Alexa with your voice, hold down the Home icon (the circle at the bottom-center of your screen) and wait for a blue line to appear. You can then give a command or ask a question.

If you have parental controls enabled, Alexa is disabled by default. Alexa is unavailable on child profiles, secondary adult profiles, and Fire Kid’s Edition tablets.

What Can Alexa Do on Fire?

With Alexa enabled, you can now do all of the following using voice commands:

• Watch Flash Briefings
• Watch videos on Amazon Prime Video
• View photos from your Prime Photos account
• Set an alarm or timer
• Schedule and view upcoming events
• Create a shopping list
• Make video calls

Most Alexa actions require your device to be connected to a Wi-Fi network. Some features are not supported in every country.

From the Alexa app home screen, you can tap the hamburger menu in the upper left corner to open the options menu. From there, tap Things to Try, then tap a topic to learn how Alexa can help. To discover new Alexa skills, tap Skills & Games or simply say, “Alexa, suggest new skills.”

Sometimes Alexa responds with visual information. To dismiss these visuals, tap the back icon.

Use Alexa on Fire HD 10 Hands-Free

The Fire HD 10 introduced completely hands-free functionality. This addition effectively turns any Fire tablet into an Amazon Echo Show smart speaker. A Fire OS software update also brought full hands-free support to all 7th generation tablets, but older models still only offer limited voice assistance.

To use Alexa without touching the Fire’s screen:

Tap the gear icon on your Home screen to open the Settings.

Tap Alexa under the Device section.

Tap Hands-Free Mode if it’s not already enabled.

Say “Alexa,” wait for the activation sound, then ask a question or give a command.

Your Fire tablet can now do everything the Amazon Echo Show and Echo Spot can do and more. If you have the Show Mode Charging Dock, your tablet automatically switches to voice-operated mode when placed on the charging stand.

Use Alexa to Read Your Kindle Books

If you have Audible audiobooks, you can listen to them by saying, “Alexa, play the audiobook” followed by the title.

Alexa can also read your books aloud if you don’t have an Audible account. To have Alexa read to you in her digitized voice, just say, “Alexa, play the Kindle book” followed by the title.

You can then ask Alexa to pause, resume, or stop your Kindle book. Examples of other commands you can use include:

• “Alexa, read louder.”
• “Alexa, stop reading in 30 minutes.”
• “Alexa, next chapter.”

Use Alexa in Show Mode

To turn on Show Mode, simply say “Alexa, turn on Show Mode.” Alternatively, you can toggle Show Mode on and off from the quick action menu.

Show Mode is only available for 7th and 8th Generation Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 tablets.

Enabling Show Mode makes it easier to control your device from afar with voice commands. When Show Mode is active, text appears larger, bolder, and formatted for reading at a distance. Your device will also suggest actions Alexa can perform while in Show Mode, making it handy for learning what the voice assistant can do for you.

Troubleshooting Alexa on the Fire Tablet

Alexa can get confused if you ask her to do something while using your Fire tablet manually. For example, if you ask Alexa to play an Audible audiobook, then you try to stop it using the Audible app, your book might start playing again from the beginning. As a general rule, any time you start an action using Alexa, you should stop the action using Alexa.

To make Alexa stop any action, simply say, “Alexa, stop.” Alternatively, you can force Alexa to stop by swiping down to open the Quick Action menu, then tap the play/pause icon. You can also toggle Alexa on and off by going to Settings > Alexa.

This guide will show you how to configure an Android device to use Alexa as the default voice assistant.

1. Open the main Android settings. This can be done by swiping down from the top of the screen and tapping the tiny gear icon. Select the “Apps & notifications” option.
   
2. Scroll down and tap “Advanced” and then tap the “Default apps” option.
   
3. Tap the “Assist & voice input” option.
   
4. Tap the “Assist app” option.
   
5. Select the “Amazon Alexa” option and you’re done.
   
6. To use Alexa, simply hold down the home button (circle button at the bottom-center) for a few seconds at anytime from anywhere.
   

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7 comments

I don’t yet have the choice on any of my devices, however I’ll point out this would not be the way to change the speech engine on any of my Android devices. It’s in Language and Input and for some devices also can be accessed in the Accessibility section under Text To Speech.

Doesn’t seem to work on my OP5T.
It lets me switch voice assistant to Alexa, but when you long press home it just says “The Google app isnt your default assist app”

Worked for me. Using a Mi A1, Android 8.0

Too bad that”always listening is turned off

I love my fire hd 8, love the fire t.v. stick but I have no use for Alexa, Google assistant is so much better!! It is night & day difference. No comparison.

For the type of questions I ask on the fly on my Smartphone I agree I find Google Assistant better and how it integrates with Chrome. For home use from the times I have had to try Google, Alexa is much better. The advancement to this for me would be not needing to go into the Alexa app to do things I do with Alexa from my phone.

I have both Alexa and Google Assistant on my Fire HD 8/10 tablets. I just speak to whichever one I want. And I’ve been able to use Google Assistant to make up for some of the Alexa shortcomings that they purposely built into the Fire tablets because they want you to spend a lot more money and buy an Echo Show or whatever… no thanks Amazon. I even programmed some funny routines where Alexa and Google Assistant get into pretty nasty fights with one another and start insulting each other, chasing each other around the house, flicking lights and appliances on and off at each other. It ends with Google Assistant calling Alexa a “nasty ho” and then she “Rick Rolls” her. Oh technology…

Will this make Alexa work with Android Auto?

I saw a show a few years ago called “How William Shatner Changed the World” and it was in fact hosted by Canadian icon William Shatner of Star Trek fame. The premise was to look at all of the unimaginable science fiction utilized in the Star Trek series—that has since become reality. Some of the innovations looked at on the show include personal computers, tablet computers, iPods, automatic doors, and cell phones. You can now add the personal voice assistant that allows you to voice control home electronics to the list.

TV Control: From a dial, to a corded box, to wireless

Next in line was the universal remote that could control more than one device even though, to this day, I still have 5 or 6 remotes on my coffee table. Then the mobile device app came along to give us even more convenience and control over our media domain. Now, the voice assistant steps in and allows us to control our media devices with our voice. Thank you, Mr. Shatner.

How to get started with Voice Control

There are a couple of key requirements in order to take advantage of this technology. You will need a relatively new television set that lets you pair a Google or Alexa device to your TV. Sets that have this built-in capability will almost certainly promote that fact and allow you to control things like power, volume, and inputs. If you are in the market for a new TV, simply ask if the model you are looking at “works with Alexa” or is compatible with Google’s Home assistant. Certain brands are affiliated with each voice assistant although you can generally use with either. That is to say if something says it “works with Alexa” you can sometimes also use Google Home Assistant, at least to some degree, but always make sure first!

In the absence of this compatibility built-in to your television, you can connect a third party media streaming player like Roku or Chromecast that has voice control embedded in the device. This blog will take you through some of those choices. You can also add a Logitech Harmony Hub to your system and when paired with Alexa, gain comprehensive control of your TV capabilities although there is some fairly complicated setup required with this method.

How to use Alexa to control your TV

Alexa is the name given to Amazon’s voice assistant. The line of speakers she controls is called Echo. In addition to playing music from your Prime or Spotify account, Alexa can control smart tech in your home from lights to appliances to the thermostat. Alexa will make shopping lists (if you have a Prime membership, Alexa will actually shop and order for you) if you ask her to, give you the weather forecast, play a trivia game, or even tell you a terribly cheesy joke. She will also help you control your television.

Alexa is available in a few different iterations. The entry level is the Echo Dot. With a small built-in speaker, the Echo Dot works great as a voice controller but if you also want a quality speaker for music and such, then you want to look at the Echo or the Echo Plus. I have two Echo Dots at my place but since my home has a wired speaker system in each room with individual controls, I simply run an audio cable out from the Dot into one of the audio inputs on the wall by my TV. This then sends all audio out and through my home speaker system. When I play music with Alexa I can access it in any room if I desire and when Alexa talks to me, it is broadcast through speakers in my ceilings rather than the confining small speaker on the Dot. If this, or a similar set-up, is not possible, then look to the larger Echo or Echo Plus.

My main media room television (a Vizio) has built-in SmartCast capabilities (essentially built-in Chromecast) and easily connected with my Alexa controlled Echo unit. I can say “Alexa, turn on TV NAME” and it fires right up. I can also turn it off with a simple “Alexa, turn off TV NAME”. Alexa is the wake word that lets the Echo know you are talking to it but, if your daughter’s name is Alexa for example, you can change the wake word to avoid confusion. If your TV is fully compatible with Alexa, these are the controls you have and how to activate them:

“Tune to channel [number]”

“Switch to [channel / network]”

“Change the channel to [channel / network / number]”

“Change to [channel / network]”

“Turn on [channel / network]”

“Search for [movie / TV show / program category]”

“Watch [movie / TV show / episode]”

“Show me [kids / news / sports / etc.] programs”

The Alexa voice control functionality now works with Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, Voot, JioCinema, Apple TV+, Sun NXT, MX Player TV, Eros, TVF Play and Viu.

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• Last Updated: May 29, 2020, 11:41 IST
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Amazon Fire TV Stick users can now use voice controls to navigate pretty much every video streaming app. Till now, voice commands and controls to invoke the Alexa virtual assistant were available for the Amazon Prime Video content on the Fire TV platform, which included movies and TV shows. Now however, the same functionality has been expanded to include all popular video streaming apps, including Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, Voot, JioCinema, Apple TV+, Sun NXT, MX Player TV, Eros, TVF Play and Viu.

If you have an Alexa voice remote, which comes as standard with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the Amazon Fire TV Stick, and is also available as an upgrade for the earlier editions of the Amazon Fire TV Stick, you can now control playback of movies and TV shows as well as search for new content on YouTube, Netflix and Jio Cinema as well along with Prime Video.

This means that it becomes incredibly simple to now search for content, across all streaming apps that you may have subscribed to. This means you don’t need to go around rummaging through each app to discover where the movie or TV show that you want to watch is hiding. This works for specific titles (Alexa, play Star Wars or Alexa, Play Dangerous Lies on Netflix) and for genres (Alexa, find comedy movies) too. To control playback, you can say “Alexa, rewind twenty seconds” or “Alexa, forward five minutes”.

The expansion of the Alexa voice search and voice-based controls for Amazon Fire TV users is very welcome, because it adds another dimension of simplicity to the entire experience of consuming content across a plethora of streaming apps. The work from home situation because of the Coronavirus lockdown has seen the entertainment requirements shift to streaming apps, to a large extent. At this time, Amazon is selling the Amazon Fire TV Stick for Rs 3,999 and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for Rs 5,999 with the Alexa Voice Remote as an additional accessory for those who may own the older version of the Amazon Fire TV Stick, for Rs 1,999.

The lady that lives in your Amazon Firestick may start speaking whenever you navigate from one menu to another or instigate an action. Amazon calls the lady VoiceView and it’s designed to make your user experience more convenient.

However, VoiceView navigation is usually more annoying than helpful, so you might want to turn it off right away. Shutting the voice down is not difficult by any means. This write-up provides you with a quick guide on how to silence VoiceView, and also offers some setup tips and tricks along the way.

Some Notes Before You Start

At the time writing, VoiceView comes pre-installed on Fire TV Stick that has Alexa Voice Remote. It is also supported on Fire TV Remote, but not on the Fire TV Remote app. If you own a different or older Fire TV or Firestick model, VoiceView is available after you do a system update.

Did the Lady Turn on by Itself?

The quick answer is no, it didn’t, and Fire TV devices don’t usually have it on by default. But the catch is, you can easily activate VoiceView by accident. This is where the troubles begin.

All you need to do is press and hold the Menu and Back buttons for about two seconds and turn the mode to on. (The lady tells you this; she’ll rant as you navigate!) To make matters worse, many users are unaware of the hotkeys which make the reverse action seemingly impossible.

Turing off VoiceView

There are two ways to get rid of the annoying Firestick voice – the obvious one being the hotkeys method. Just hold down on the Menu and Back buttons until the lady informs you that she’ll stop talking now, and you’re good to go. If that doesn’t work, you can always do it via Settings.

Launch the Settings menu and navigate to Accessibility. Select VoiceView, which should be the second option under Accessibility. Choose VoiceView again and a full-screen window pops up along with a button to turn it off.

Highlight the Turn Off button, click on it, and the lady’s voice will inform you that it has been turned off. You can now go back to the VoiceView menu and check if the option is set to Off.

VoiceView Tips and Tricks

Aside from just reading out loud, VoiceView may enhance your menu-hopping experience by providing on-screen text descriptions. This feature is named Review Mode. It’s activated when you hold down the Menu button for about two seconds.

With the Review Mode on, you can use the directional buttons to select text and, of course, switch between the menus. For example, the Up and Down buttons select pieces of text, like information about the videos, and the Left and Right buttons move you through different menus.

If you want to disengage Review Mode, hold down on the Menu button again and it will turn off.

Note: When you select a piece of text, VoiceView tells you “Item not selectable.” However, Review Mode reads/describes that piece of text for you.

More on the Menu Button

You can get orientation descriptions and navigation tips by pressing the Menu button when VoiceView is active. That said, this time, you just press the button, not hold it down.

For example, a single press tells you the item information, if available. Double-pressing the button reveals additional options for the selected item.

Neat Trick: When you engage Review Mode, pressing the Menu button activates VoiceView to spell out the selected words.

Changing VoiceView Preferences

Amazon Firestick gives you an option to customize certain VoiceView settings. There is still no way to change the voice or accent, but you can tweak the reading speed, sound and speech volume, etc.

To do so, you need to access the VoiceView menu from Firestick Settings. Here is a quick reminder on how to do it before you check out all the VoiceView settings.

Settings > Accessibility > VoiceView

Here are the options you can change:

1. Sounds Volume – By default, Sounds Volume is set to 40% of the overall volume level you’ve chosen. This refers to feedback sounds like clicks and chimes and you can reduce it or turn it off completely.
2. Speech Volume – The default level is the same as Sounds Volume and you can turn it up or down as you wish. This affects how loud the lady speaks.
3. Reading Speed – Why not play around a little and increase the lady’s reading speed to the max?
4. Punctuation Level – Yes, VoiceView can read all or none of the punctuation marks from the menus.
5. Key Echo – This option echoes text, characters, or both as you type them via the virtual keyboard. Character echoing is turned on by default and you can choose Words, Characters, Characters and Words, or None.

The Voice Button

Some Firestick remotes have a Voice button, it’s the one that features a microphone icon. The button has nothing to do with VoiceView, but it allows you to issue voice commands to your device.

Press it down to wake Alexa and tell it what you want to do. You can use it to search, play videos, jump to a menu, and much more.

Stop Hearing Voices

To recap, press and hold the Menu and Back buttons to turn VoiceView off or on –it’s that simple. Did the voice on your Firestick turn on all of a sudden? Do you maybe find it more useful than annoying? Drop a comment below and share your experiences with the rest of the community.