The Drop-In and Announcement features of Alexa are pretty useful especially if you do a lot of back and forth calling between family members or if you live in a big house. However, it was only fully available for Amazon Echo Show and Echo Spot devices and tablets could only make calls but not receive them. Well that’s all going to change now as support for those two features are now available for Fire HD 8 (2017 and 2018 versions) and Fire HD 10 models.
Once the software update has been installed on your tablets, go to your settings and tap on Alexa, toggle the Alexa and Hand-Free mode sliders to on and then on the Communications section, toggle the sliders for Calling and Messaging. You will also need to configure the Drop In setting to On, since it is automatically turned off due to the sort of invasive nature of the feature.
You also need to choose the devices in the My Household section so they can have access to Drop Ins and also extend the option to your permitted contacts. You also need to turn on Announcements so you will be able to use the intercom-like feature of Alexa. Lastly, you will need to enable Show Mode either by giving a voice command like “Alexa, switch to show mode” or just swipe down from your tablet’s display and toggle the slider.
You can also opt out of these two features if you don’t feel like having a family member drop in on you through your tablet while you’re doing, well, something private. You can also just limit the calls to specific contacts if there are family members or friends that you don’t mind dropping in on you at any specific time.
The update is rolling out to the Fire HD tablets specified. No word yet if more models will also receive Drop-In and Announcement support.
VIA: Engadget
