Alexa Guard Turns Your Echo Into a Home Security System

Thanks to Alexa Guard your Amazon Echo is now capable of guarding your home while you’re away. While it isn’t intended to be a replacement for a dedicated security system, Alexa Guard offers some simple safeguards designed to give you peace of mind.

What Is Alexa Guard and How Does It Work?

In a nutshell, Alexa Guard puts your Echo device into guard mode when you’re not home. Once enabled and activated, Alexa Guard will do various things designed to keep your home safe, and notify you in the event that someone breaks in.

Smart Alerts means your Echo device will be listening for unusual sounds. If your Echo hears glass breaking or a smoke alarm wailing it will alert you via your phone. You can listen to the sound through the app or Drop In on your Echo to see what’s happening.

Away Lighting mimics what Macaulay Culkin tried in Home Alone. If you own compatible smart lighting, Alexa will automatically turn them on and off to make it look as though you’re home. Which should be more effective than fiddling with a timer.

If you already have a dedicated home security system such as Ring or ADT you can integrate it with Alexa Guard. This means activating Alexa Guard will arm your security system. You can also have Smart Alerts forwarded to Ring or ADT.

How to Enable and Activate Alexa Guard

Once your Alexa app has updated, you just need to enable it. To enable Alexa Guard, head to Settings, tap Guard, and then follow the simple setup procedure. After that you just need to say “Alexa, I’m leaving” to activate Alexa Guard when you leave the house.

After being tested for the last few months, Alexa Guard is now rolling out to all Echo owners in the US. It’s free to use, although Amazon hopes you’ll buy Alexa-compatible gadgets such as Phillips Hue lightbulbs, a Ring Alarm, and/or an ADT security system.

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