How To Turn Your Amazon Echo Smart Speakers Into Home Intercoms With Alexa Drop-In

Amazon has published its Alexa monthly Roundup for May 2020, bragging that Alexa is always getting smarter and offering highlights for the month. One of the key features that Alexa gained in May is "Drop In" for all Alexa devices in a home. The new feature allows customers to instantly connect all of their Echo devices into a single group conversation.

Users can say "Alexa, drop in on all devices" to start an audio intercom call for all manner of conversations like what to have for dinner or arranging trips to the grocery store. Another new feature announced brings the ability to set reminders to play across all Alexa devices, which Amazon says was a frequently requested feature. In the Alexa app, customers can choose "all devices" when creating a reminder, or the feature can be enabled for all reminders by going to Settings > Reminders and opting into "Announce on all devices."

Echo Show now supports photo sharing reactions allowing users to share photos with Alexa contacts using the Show and the Alexa app. When someone shares a picture with the user, they can send a reaction back by choosing one of three animated emoji options, including laugh, love, and wow. The last of the new Alexa features for the month is Daily Music Pick. This feature allows artists to provide customers with daily music recommendations when users say, "Alexa play the Daily Music Pick." Each day a new artist selects a song, album, or playlist they have been enjoying at home.

Amazon announced in May that it's Authorized Test Labs (ATL) for Alexa Built-in devices was available to developers. ATL allows device makers and solution providers to work directly with the lab for Alexa built-in certification testing. The development of ATL is good news for developers who want to integrate Alexa into products, like the Marshall Uxbridge smart speaker that debuted in March.