What’s the point of having an assistant, robot or human, if they aren’t there to remind you to do the things you constantly forget to do? For me, it’s taking out the recycling. Each week rotates between bottles/cans or paper/cardboard, and without fail I either put the wrong one at the curb or forget to do it entirely. I’ve tried setting reminders on my phone, but I usually wind up seeing them just about the same time I hear the recycling truck drive by my house. Thankfully I have a house full of Echos and Dots, and Amazon has given Alexa the ability to set up repeating reminders.
At the time of this post, you can only have the reminders repeat on a day of the week, or every day of the week. Asking for something like every other Tuesday isn’t yet supported.
There are two ways to set up Alexa repeating reminders, using the app or by voice. As always, asking Alexa is super easy: “Alexa, remind me to take out the recycling every Tuesday at six PM.” Boom. Done.
If you’re still getting used to asking Alexa to do these things, or you prefer to set up reminders using the Alexa app, here’s how:
- Open the Alexa app, tap the hamburger menu on the top left and then select Reminders & Alarms
- With the Reminders tab selected (that’s the default tab), tap Add Reminder
- Fill out the Remind me to field with whatever it is you want to be reminded about. You don’t have to include “remind me to,” that’s included by default. In my example, I would enter “take out the recycling.”
- Tap the switch next to Repeat to make this a repeating reminder. This will add another Repeat field below the switch, with a default entry of “Every day.”
- If you don’t want your reminder to happen every day, tap that field and select one of the options listed. Currently, you can choose: every day, weekdays, weekends, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. If, for instance, you need a reminder on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you will have to create three separate repeating reminders. One for Monday’s, one for Wednesday’s, and one for Friday’s.
- Once you have selected the days your reminder will repeat, tap Time and select the time you would like to have your reminder repeat.
- Finally, select a device on which you would like to hear your reminder. If you have multiple Echo devices, this is important. I wouldn’t want the Dot in my office reminding me to take out the recycling when I’m generally in the Kitchen. If you only have one Echo device, it will be selected by default.
One last thing to note is that Alexa reminders will also pop up on any device on which the Alexa app is installed. This is helpful if you happen to be in another room when Alexa announces your reminder, or if you tend to be forgetful.