How to Streamline Your Morning Routine With Amazon Alexa
Reading Time: 4 minutesMake your mornings just a bit more bearable with some help from Amazon’s Alexa.
Are you a morning person? Do you spring out of bed ready to start the day, or are you the type that needs three alarms—with one that is out of reach—to force yourself out of bed? Whichever category you fit in, an automated Amazon Alexa morning routine can streamline your morning.
From what Alexa plays for you to what the assistant tells your smart home to do, we will go over popular and useful actions to start your day on the right side of the bed.
How to a Build Routine in the Alexa App
1. Create and Name Your Routine
First, start building out your routine on your mobile device:
- Open the Alexa app for iOS or Android.
- In the More menu in the lower-right corner, select Routines.
- Create a new routine by using the (+) in the top-right corner.
- Name your new routine. For this example, we’ll call ours simply Morning.
- Select Next.
From here, you will set the phrase that will trigger the routine to begin, and add the actions that will occur in the routine. Starting with the When this happens option, select the (+) to the right.
2. Choose How to Begin Your Routine
You have several options available to you. When you select Voice, you can choose your wake word. What do you want to say to Alexa to start your routine? Some good options are ‘Wake me up’ or ‘Let’s start my day.’
Below Voice is the Schedule option. When you select this, you can have your morning routine begin at a specific time rather than with a wake word. Your choices are to set an exact time, at sunrise, or a specific number of minutes before or after sunrise. Sunset is also an option, but unlikely to be used for morning routines.
You can also choose which days of the week you want to use your routine. This is handy for a variety of reasons. If you prefer to sleep in on weekends, you can disable or delay the routine on Saturdays and Sundays. You can also set it to occur at different times for days you plan to commute to the office or have an early morning meeting.
Other options to trigger the routine include Device, where you select which of your Amazon Echo hub devices will perform the routine, if you have multiple available in your account. Location will trigger the routine actions to begin upon your arrival at a specified location.
Alarm is an option on the menu that will trigger the routine to begin when you dismiss your alarm on an Echo device. Finally, the Echo button option requires you to press your Echo button to get the routine started.
Once you’ve decided how you want your routine to be triggered, use the (+) Add Action to select what you want your smart home to do during the routine.
1. Wake Up to Music, a News Briefing, or the Weather
The options for what to listen to are endless. From the local weather report to your favorite amp-up playlist, Amazon is here for you. Maybe you’d like daily affirmations. The local traffic report may be useful.
There are skills available to play and customize a flash briefing from your favorite news organizations, like NPR, ABC News, Fox, CNN, etc. You can enable these skills in your Alexa app and add them to your routine.
You can even set your Echo up to have your alarm be music rather than typical alarm sounds.
2. Gradually Turn on Your Smart Lighting
A nice feature available is the ability to gradually turn on your lights in the morning. To do this:
- From the (+) Add Action section of your routine menu, select Smart Home.
- Select Lights.
- Select the light you’d like to control from the list of smart devices available on your account.
- If the light is dimmable, the Brightness option will be available. Select ramp to brightness and choose how long you want the light to take to ramp up to your desired brightness.
3. Automate Your Blinds to Let the Light In
Once a feature in only luxury resorts, smart automatic window shades are now more affordable than ever. They can be a great way to wake up, offering natural light, and the controls can easily be added to your routine.
Motorized shades with smart home capabilities are available at most big box stores and online retailers that sell window coverings. There are a lot of great options available. Once you set your smart blinds up with your Alexa app, they will appear under your smart devices list when you go to add an action.
4. Remotely Activate Your Smart Coffee Maker
Another smart home device to streamline your routine is a coffee maker. Having a fresh cup of joe ready in your kitchen can be the differentiator between a good morning and a great morning.
There are a lot of options available to you, including standard 12-cup carafe machines and single-serve Keurigs. With the majority of these coffee makers, you will need to prep the night before with fresh water and coffee. However, with Alexa controls, you do avoid needing to worry about it in the morning.
5. Set Your Ideal Morning Temperature With a Smart Thermostat
It’s always easier to get up when your home is warm, and your smart thermostat makes that easy. Simply set your desired temperature from the Smart Home menu under (+) Add Actions in the routine menu.
Just to note, this will set your thermostat to have the heat kick on when your routine begins, not reach the desired temperature by that time. So, if you prefer your place to already be warm, you can use your thermostat’s smart scheduling to have the heat kick on before you plan to be up.
6. Try an Amazon Halo Rise for a Natural Rise
If you’re looking for a new device to wake you up gently, the Amazon Halo Rise may be a good option for you. The built-in LED light is designed to simulate a sunrise, waking you up naturally. At night, it does the opposite, simulating a sunset to help you relax into sleep.
The Halo Rise is also a powerful sleep tracker, and you may find it a good fit to monitor your sleep without requiring a wearable.
Make Your Morning Work For You
You can configure your Alexa morning routine to be as complex or simple as you’d like. Whether you want a cup of hot coffee ready in a warm house precisely at 7:15 a.m. or if you simply want Alexa to tell you the weather and news after you’ve dismissed your alarm, there is a morning routine option for you.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/amazon-alexa-streamline-morning-routine/
Ref: makeuseof
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