By Jim Lynch,
starThought Leader, CIO|Feb 21, 2017 4:00 AM
PT
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Alexa is the helpful voice in the Echo and Echo Dot that comes with a wide range of skills already available. But with a little coding, it can be made to do much more. IDG's Sharon Machlis explains.
Mingis on Tech: Coding new skills for Alexa(13:46)
Amazon’s Alexa device has proven to be quite popular with many home users, and some already consider it to be a better voice assistant than Apple’s Siri. Now there is an app that will let you use Amazon’s Alexa on your iOS device or Mac.
iOS: Get the free Reverb app for Amazon’s Alexa
Reverb for iOS is a free app that lets you use Alexa anywhere. Here’s the official description from the iOS App Store:
Reverb allows you to interact with Alexa from anywhere. Via Alexa, Reverb answers questions, reports traffic and weather, gives info on local businesses, provides sports scores and schedules, and more using the Alexa Voice Service.
Reverb now uses Alexa v2, which adds support for timers, alarms, long form audio, audiobooks, and more.
It can also interact with smart devices that are compatible with Alexa, such as lights, switches, and thermostats compatible Samsung SmartThings, WeMo, Philips Hue, and others.
Alexa is always learning new features, plus thousands of skills like 1-800-flowers, Animal Sounds, and more
Reverb does not support music due to Alexa doesn't allow use of Amazon Music in apps. Only hardware implementations are allowed to play Amazon Music.
Currently the iOS version of Reverb for Amazon Alexa has a 4.5 star rating, so clearly users seem to be embracing it on their iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices.
Mac: Get the free Reverb app for Amazon's Alexa
And don’t worry if you want to use Alexa on your Mac, there’s a Mac version of Reverb, for that as well. Here’s the official description from the Mac App Store:
Reverb allows you to interact with Alexa from anywhere. Via Alexa, Reverb answers questions, reports traffic and weather, gives info on local businesses, provides sports scores and schedules, and more using the Alexa Voice Service.
Reverb now uses Alexa v2, which adds support for timers, alarms, long form audio, audiobooks, and more.
It can also interact with smart devices that are compatible with Alexa, such as lights, switches, and thermostats compatible Samsung SmartThings, WeMo, Philips Hue, and others.
Reverb for the Mac also seems to be pleasing its users, it has a four star rating in the Mac App Store as I write this post.
Apple can’t be happy about Amazon's Alexa voice assistant on the Mac and iOS devices
I’m rather surprised to see the Reverb for Amazon Alexa app available for iOS and the Mac. I’m sure Apple can’t be happy that one of Siri’s biggest competitors has quietly made its debut on Apple’s platforms.
Then again, Apple probably figures that an obscure third party app probably isn’t going to challenge Siri in any significant way. Otherwise the company might have tried to ban the app from appearing in the Mac and iOS App Stores.
I’m not a fan of Siri (or any other voice assistant for that matter) as it never seems to work right for me. I’ve found it’s faster to type or tap than it is to rely on Siri for anything, so I have it turned off on my iOS devices and on my Mac.
But it will be quite interesting to see if Amazon’s Alexa builds up any momentum on the Mac and iOS. Reverb seems to be a third party application so how long until Amazon releases an official app for Alexa on the Mac and iOS devices?
Stay tuned…
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Jim Lynch is a technology analyst and online community manager who has also written for many leading industry publications over the years, including ITworld, InfoWorld, CIO, PCMag, ExtremeTech, and numerous others.
The opinions expressed in this blog are those of Jim Lynch and do not necessarily represent those of IDG Communications, Inc., its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies.
