Being able to interact with different home devices as well as getting a response to all your requests without having to touch anything, just with your voice, is the great advantage of voice assistants. But it is not always possible and that is why now you can chat with Alex , so that your commands become via text.
Chat with Alexa instead of talking to her
Alexa has a great understanding capacity, making interacting with her from any compatible device very easy. Still, there are times when it might not be possible or desirable to do so. For this reason, one of the new options they are testing is the one that offers the possibility of having conversations with the Amazon assistant through text . That is, use all its options without speaking to you but through a text chat.
This is what Alexa has just added through its application for iOS devices , although the only ones who for the moment will be able to make use of this new Type with Alexa function are users in the United States. That means that even updating the application to its latest version, it is likely that you will not be able to use this new option or that the case of having access to it will not respond well if you write in a language other than English.
How to chat with Alexa via text
The use of this new feature that allows you to chat by text with Alexa and thus indicate any command without using your voice is directly integrated into the app for iOS devices. Yes, for now it is exclusive for those who have an iPhone or iPad. Although we assume that now that the Mac with an Apple M1 chip and the iOS and iPadOS applications are compatible, it will also be something that reaches these computers.
Well, to start using Type with Alexa, you just have to touch the icon in the upper right to access a screen similar to that of any messaging application.
In this way you will be able to write the same thing that you would say with your voice and the assistant will interpret it and carry it out in the same way as with the current control method so far. Thus, if you do not want anyone to know that you are going to play the console, you can type Alexa, turn on the Xbox and it will.
A novelty that is not really new
The ability to write or, rather, to interact with a voice assistant via text is not something that Alexa opens . Google assistant has been offering this same option for a long time. What’s more, its use is more advanced and even in recent months it has gained the ability to offer suggestions while chatting with it.
Likewise, this novelty that now affects Alexa may be of equal or more importance due to the widespread use of said assistant. Because on the one hand there are users who due to physical problems cannot speak and want to use the Amazon option for the same reasons as the rest (integration, responsiveness, speed, etc.) And on the other, there will be someone who will at some point it is more convenient to use the wizard in writing rather than with your voice.
Therefore, what is clear with this new option is that any addition that does not cut or eliminate previously available options is always great news. Now you just have to wait and see when it is available to use by each and every one of the languages for which Alexa offers support. And yes, for everyone it also implies for those who use Android devices and want to chat with Alexa from them.