Amazon announced over a dozen brand new products last month at its hardware event in Seattle, such as the Echo Sub, Echo Link, Echo Auto, and even a smart microwave. In addition to new hardware, Amazon also showed off a few new features, including one that would allow Alexa to whisper instead of speak at full volume. Called “whisper mode,” the feature finally began to roll out to Echo users in the United States on Friday.
The use cases of the new feature are fairly obvious, but as Amazon noted in its announcement post, whisper mode is great for interacting with Alexa early in the morning before everyone is awake, or late at night after everyone has gone to sleep. With whisper mode, you will no longer accidentally wake up the entire house.
There are a few ways to activate whisper mode on your Echo device, depending on your preference:
- Open the Alexa app on your mobile device, then go to Settings > Alexa Account > Alexa Voice > Responses > Whispered Responses.
- Alternatively, just say “Alexa, turn on whisper mode” to your Echo device.
Once whisper mode has been activated, you’ll see just how quiet Alexa can be. Based on some early videos we have seen of the feature in action, you’ll probably need to be pretty close to the device to hear her responses.
Whisper mode was one of several software updates Amazon showed off last month. Alexa Guard puts Alexa on high alert for home invasions when you leave the house, hunches give Alexa the ability to make assumptions about other smart home devices based on the time of day or what you say, and doorbell camera integration with the Echo Show means you can have two-way conversations by saying “Alexa, answer the front door.”
