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Using Ask My Buddy With The Amazon Echo
About a year ago, a friend of mine who has SMA, told me about an application that I can use that would help me if I ever needed to call someone for help. I had recently purchased one of the Amazon Echo devices, and while video chatting with my friend, I noticed he had one of the same devices. I had recently fallen forward in my wheelchair, and I was stuck in this position for a about 30 minutes before my caregiver returned from the store. We were talking about this when he told me about an application called Ask My Buddy.
When you enable this application on your Echo device, you are able to enter phone numbers of people you would like to call in case you are in an emergency. Although it is a free application to use, you also have the ability to pay for a subscription, which would allow you to enter more numbers and also have more options as to other things that this application will allow you to do.
If I ever need someone to help me, the only thing I have to do is to tell my device the following: Alexa, ask my buddy. After I say this phrase, my Echo device responds by asking me which person would I like to contact? I tell the Echo device the name of the person, and it automatically calls their cell phone with a prerecorded message, and it also sends a text message to their cell phone.
My question to everyone is have you ever heard of this application? If you have, and you have used it, what are your opinions?
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7 Replies
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Although I haven’t used this specific application I’ve found with my Echo I can call pretty much any number. It’s easiest to call numbers from your contact list, then all you have to do is say, “Alexa call Mom,” but really any number works. It really gives piece of mind when my cell phone or other devices are out of reach. I too had a situation where I was stuck until someone came. Not fun.
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DeAnn, how do you have your Echo device call outside phone numbers? I didn’t realize it could do that. I know it can call from one device to another person’s device, but I never knew it could call outside numbers. How do I get it to do that?
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Honestly I don’t remember if I had to set up the skill, but all I say is, “Alexa call xxx xxx xxxx,” and it does. Then when you’re finished say, “Alexa, hang up.” If you and the other person both have a Show and have “drop in” enabled I think you can actually video chat. Haven’t tried that yet though.
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I just watched a YouTube video where it explained how this works. Both you and the person you called, have to have the Alexa on your cell phones. It doesn’t seem too difficult, so I’m going to try this with my caregiver to see if it works. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
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Yeah I also didn’t know about the ask my buddy app, but like DeAnn I use mine to call friends and family. It especially helps when my parents are either out or on the other side of the house and I need help.
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DeAnn & Kevin – After what DeAnn told me, I went out on YouTube and found a great instructional video on how to enable your Alexa application to make phone calls. I set everything up and it worked perfectly. Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4iLdpycQMQ
This is going to make it much easier for me because now I don’t have to use my Ask My Buddy application near as much. I have another one of these Echo devices in my bedroom, which will make it easy for me if I need to call one of my caregivers during the night.
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Here’s a few great YouTube links for the Amazon Echo device:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__6CmMgm0n8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2P_jFN0Pr8
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