Alexa Guard Now Available on All Echo Speakers in the U.S.

First announced in September 2018 for new Echo smart speakers, Alexa Guard is now available on all Echo speakers.

“With Guard, Alexa can help you keep your home safe,” an Amazon support document explains. “When you set Guard to Away mode, Alexa can send you Smart Alerts via notifications to your phone if an eligible Echo device detects the sound of smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, or glass breaking. If you have connected smart lights, Alexa can automatically turn them on and off to make it look like someone is home when you’re away. Guard also works with security systems from Ring and ADT.”

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Alexa Guard was originally available on newer-generation Echo smart speakers. But Amazon announced late yesterday that the functionality, which works in tandem with smart lights, smart smoke detectors, smart security systems, and other compatible devices, is now available on all Echo speakers. Just say “Alexa I’m leaving,” and your Echo will monitor whatever smart safety and security devices you have an issue a notification to you or a security service should something go wrong.

Alexa Guard is a free service, but it’s not supported on third-party Alexa-powered smart speakers, so you’ll need at least one Amazon Echo to get started. You can learn more at Amazon.com.

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Conversation 8 comments

  • Skolvikings

    14 May, 2019 - 9:12 am

    <p>I'm looking forward to enabling this. Just more peace of mind.</p>

    • jbinaz

      14 May, 2019 - 9:54 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#428049">In reply to Skolvikings:</a></em></blockquote><p>It is a nice feature. But the peace of mind is offset by the always listening aspect. Which, for some reason, has begun to bother me more lately. Not to the point we don't use our Echo, though. </p>

      • Skolvikings

        14 May, 2019 - 4:16 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#428056">In reply to jbinaz:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yep, I understand. I already made the calculation to use Echo devices without Alexa Guard, so I see this specific announcement as a positive.</p>

      • SvenJ

        14 May, 2019 - 5:46 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#428056"><em>In reply to jbinaz:</em></a><em> </em>Do you mean always listening while in guard mode, when you aren't there? Or always listening locally for the trigger word (or something that sounds like it)</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Tony Barrett

    14 May, 2019 - 9:58 am

    <p>What will Amazon train Alexa to do next? Bite the ankles of intruders maybe? 'Guard' is an interesting, but ultimately pointless feature designed to play on people's fears, and I'm sure this will work <em>much</em> better if you have an Echo in every room!</p>

  • james_wilson

    14 May, 2019 - 11:03 am

    <p>Could be very useful. I have an old style audible alarm. It would be good for Alexa to detect this and send me a mail when I'm away. I can then call the police or a friend to pop over and check things out.</p>

    • MikeGalos

      14 May, 2019 - 1:45 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#428071">In reply to James_Wilson:</a></em></blockquote><p>Or send you an email alert so you can check your cameras and use those to send an e911 note to the police.</p>

  • MikeGalos

    14 May, 2019 - 1:44 pm

    <p>We're currently using Alexa with LIFX smart bulbs and IFTTT to do a lot of this. Nice to see even more functionality built in.</p>

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