To get the most out of Alexa Calling, you need contacts! The problem is adding Alexa Contacts one-by-one is a really slow process. There are tons of fields to input just for a single contact. But there is hope, if you have a smart phone already. You can sync contacts with Alexa and import all of your iPhone or Android contacts right into Alexa. Let me show you how to sync contacts with Alexa, right from your phone, in just a few minutes.
Didn’t realize you can call your friends and family with Echo? Learn how.
How to Sync Contacts to Alexa
Did you know that Alexa has a built-in feature that will pull all of your contacts from your phone, and add them all to Alexa? This feature is called Import Contacts. One other benefit of this feature is it will add any new contacts you get in the future automatically. No need to worry about keeping Alexa contacts up to date with your phone.
Enabling contact sync in the Alexa app only takes a few steps. I’ll walk through the steps with an iPhone, but the steps will be nearly identical for Android users as well.
First, open up the Alexa App.
Next, head over to the Communication tab
Tap on contacts in the top right.
Now tap on the 3 dots in the top right
Here you’ll find a bunch of settings for Alexa Contacts. Lets dive into the “Import Contacts” option.
When you toggle Import Contacts, Alexa will automatically add all contacts stored on your phone into your Alexa App, which can be used by any of your Echo devices.
Toggle “Import Contacts” and head back to the Contacts list. There you will notice you have a bunch of new contacts.
And if you want to disable contact syncing with Alexa, just head back to the Manage Contacts screen, and toggle it. Then all of those synced contacts are removed, leaving you with just the contacts you manually added to Alexa
Now that Alexa knows about all these new contacts in your phone, you can call them, drop in on them, or announce with them. Try out a few of these commands:
“Alexa, call <contact name>”
“Alexa, drop in on <device name>”
With all these new contacts, you may find some you don’t actually want in Alexa. Check out this article to learn how to remove contacts from Alexa.
Other Alexa Contact Settings
In addition to Import Contacts, there are a few other settings worth mentioning:
Add Contact
Even with sync enabled, you can always manually add a contact to the Alexa Communication tab. Look for the “+” sign in the Alexa app to add all the details for your new contact.
Add Group
Alexa also supports group calling. Check out this feature if you want to call more people at once.
Manage Favorites
Marking contacts as Favorites helps Alexa find the right contact faster. This is especially helpful if you have a lot of contacts, which is likely after you enable sync.
Contact Access
Set permissions for which contacts can call you.
Block Contacts
Similar to Contact Access, except you can name contacts that may not call you.
Emergency Contact
Set an emergency contact. After you set this up, this contact will be referred to as the “emergency contact” from now on.
“Alexa, call my emergency contact”
And that’s how you sync contacts to Alexa, as well as how you disable contact syncing for Alexa.
Let me know if I missed any other cool tips. And finally, for more tips check out the Alexa Archive.
