The best Alexa skills of 2023

If you’re stumped on what to watch this weekend, your Alexa device can suggest some award-winning flicks. On the movie end of things, the Valossa Movie Finder skill can recommend titles based on descriptions of movies that you feed it. You can also make requests like “Alexa, find comedies from the 1970s.”

While major health concerns should always be handled by your doctor or emergency personnel, there’s nothing wrong with getting answers to some common medical questions at home. With the Mayo Clinic Alexa skill, users are able to ask Alexa questions like, “How do I treat my baby’s fever?” and “Tell me about spider bites.”

Keeping tabs on your purchase history is key to maintaining those healthy bank accounts. Thankfully, Alexa wants to help you sort all of your credits and debits with the handy Amex skill. You’ll of course need an Amex card from American Express, but once the skill is enabled, you’ll be able to do things like check your account balance, make a payment, see what available credit you have, and more. Getting up and running is just a matter of linking your Amex account to the Alexa skill and creating a four-digit pin.

If you’re not an Amex cardholder, there’s also a version of this skill available to Capital One customers.

Got an Instant Pot? Alexa can instantly pull up Instant Pot recipes for you to try out, and all you have to do is enable a skill. What makes this skill really useful is that there are many different ways in which you can filter through the recipes. Go by cuisine, diet preference, difficulty level, or even ingredients (so you can finally clear out those almost-expired foods in your fridge). You’ll be able to quickly put dinner on the table, and you can effortlessly find new recipes to try out that may become a permanent addition to your home cookbook.

Keeping track of your calories? Whether you’re trying to lose weight, gain weight, or just maintain a healthy weight, keeping tabs on your calorie intake can be really important. Do that easily with an Alexa skill. With this Track by Nutritionix skill, you can say things like,  “Alexa, tell food tracker to log a glass of milk,” or “Alexa, ask food tracker for my calorie report.” Instead of counting your calories in a notebook that can be easily misplaced or forgotten, you can simultaneously log calories while preparing a meal.

It’s easy to misplace your phone or have it slip out of your pocket into the depths of the couch. If someone else is home, your first instinct is likely to frantically ask them to call it. With its Where’sMyPhone skill, Alexa can do that for you, so you don’t need to wait for a roommate or spouse to get home.

Although it’s a default skill, you might not be aware that you can go into your settings via Alexa and customize your sports news. You can add your favorite professional or college teams and get updates on schedules and scores. Go to the Alexa app and select Settings > Sports to get started.

This one is for any parent who gets tired of reading the same bedtime stories over and over. You might not like the idea of a robot reading your child to sleep, but your kid will love it. The app also lets you customize the story to include your child’s name. Each of the stories clocks in at under a minute (and Alexa’s monotone reading voice is no substitute for yours), but it’s worth enabling if you ever need a rest for a night.

If you aren’t really a story type of person, you may be more interested in Alexa skills that can play white noise sounds or play rain sounds to help you drift off.

We’re not referring to a specific skill, but rather the ability to customize the news you get every day. By default, asking Alexa for a “flash briefing” runs you through the top news stories from a few handpicked sources. But you can enable everything from The Wall Street Journal to an (unofficial) Reddit app if you should so desire. The settings page on the Alexa companion app will let you add or remove sources until you have a flash briefing tailored to your liking.

Want to listen to music, but don’t have speakers in the house? Your Alexa-enabled device functions as a music player, and once you register the device to your Amazon account, you’ll be able to play music from your Amazon Music library. Prefer to stream music from a service like Spotify? You can do that, too, and even use the Spotify app on your smartphone as a remote control. Like listening to some gentle, relaxing music while you fall asleep? You can ask Alexa to stop playing music after a certain amount of time, so the music will stop once you’re in la-la land.

Even if you don’t watch the show religiously, this app is great for listening to the show’s opening monologue and a few choice bits. If you’re a Jimmy Fallon fan, it’s some nice, light entertainment to listen to while you’re brushing your teeth or cleaning up around the house.

There are a variety of skills for public transportation hubs similar to NYC Subway. Enabling these skills will allow Alexa to rattle off delays along specific lines, so you know just how much time you’ll need to get where you’re going.

Alexa does give you local forecasts by default, but this amazing Big Sky weather skill gives incredibly detailed breakdowns. If you want to know the sunrise and sunset times, for example, or what the weather was like a year ago, this app can do that for you.

With the GasBuddy skill, you can use Alexa to find the best prices on local gas, the best-rated convenience stores, and even the cleanest rest-stop bathrooms. Just say things like “Alexa, find me the closest gas station with a bathroom,” or “Alexa, is $2.70 a good price for gas?” By joining the growing GasBuddy network, you can even report your own local findings for the best deals on fuel and the cleanest roadside depots.

If you have the right model, a variety of vehicle brands have created Alexa skills that allow you to use Alexa to start your car, make sure it’s locked, and operate a variety of internal settings from temperature to lights. Current skills include:

Gym memberships and personal trainers don’t come cheap, but fortunately, you don’t need to shell out loads of cash to get in great shape. Your voice assistant Alexa can narrate a workout for you, and it’s totally free. Let Alexa walk you through situps, pushups, and bicep curls — just don’t be surprised when you’re sore the next morning. Here are some workout skills to get you started.

2020 aside, we can’t really be with our pets all the time. But Alexa has skills that can help out! Calm My Dog will play slow-tempo music specifically chosen to help calm dogs and keep playing until you return (with a premium option available). Calm My Cat does the same thing, except the music is chosen with cats in mind (no, we can’t really tell the difference, but maybe your pet can). And if you’re actually worried about a specific pet behavior, you can enable the skill MyPetDoc, an artificial intelligence (A.I.) designed to talk about common pet problems and what you should do next. You can even use it to speak to a live veterinarian for a fee.

Got the blues? Need a spark of inspiration? Let Alexa play the role of a life coach. With the Inspire Me skill, you can raise your spirits just by saying “Alexa, inspire me.” Alexa will respond with uplifting quotes from the most renowned philanthropists and positivity gurus, planting a seed of hope in your garden of woe. You can even sort inspiring messages by speaker and topic by saying things like “Alexa, ask Inspire Me to play Martin Luther King,” or “Alexa, ask Inspire Me about failure.”

Alexa can start your Xbox

Alexa can help with homework

Not a fan of any skills mentioned above? You can use Skill Finder to hunt down new skills or find anything that’s trending today. Simply enable the skill, then say, “Alexa, open Skill Finder.” From there, you’ll get a rundown of the newest skills. Plenty of other voice commands work with the program, so be sure to enable it on your device and check it out every day.

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