Amazon announced Tuesday morning that it is rolling out a new feature to all Echo devices in the U.S. Alexa Guard turns your Echo into a security device when no one is home by enabling them to listen for sounds that might indicate danger or an intruder.
Users will need to enable the feature in the Alexa app on their devices, (It’s in the settings menu). If the feature hasn’t rolled out to your device(s) yet, Amazon will offer to inform you when it’s available.
When leaving, users will need to say “Alexa, I’m leaving” to set Alexa Guard to Away mode. The device will then listen for sounds like breaking glass, or smoke or carbon monoxide alarms.
TechCrunch reports that Amazon worked with licensed contractors to break hundreds of different glass windows using different objects in order to create a wide range of different sounds for Alexa to listen for.
If Alexa detects one of the sounds it is listening for, it will send a Smart Alert via phone notifications. Users will be able to play the sound form the Alexa mobile app, or listen remotely via their Echo device to find out what’s going on.
Alexa can also arm a Ring or ADT security system, and users can set the Smart Alerts to forward to Ring or ADT. Users with Away Lighting can automatically turn compatible smart lights on and off to make it look like someone is home.
More details about Alexa Guard is available at Amazon’s FAQ.
