February 2022: What’s New With Amazon Alexa?

Alexa gets smarter every day as it tries to improve its capabilities to make life easier and more convenient for its users. Amazon Alexa has learned a few more things for February 2022; here’s what you may have missed:

Symptom Checker

Amazon Alexa can now check whatever symptoms you may have and even provide you with a list of potential medical conditions you may be experiencing. Although, it’s worth mentioning that these suggestions are usually for common ailments that are easily detected, such as fever, rash, stomachache, runny nose, and headaches.

After saying, “Alexa, check my symptoms,” the AI will ask you a couple of questions to fully get the gist of what you’re feeling. Afterward, Alex will provide you with the best possible reasons why you’re experiencing your symptoms along with basic, need-to-know information about each cause. Of course, you shouldn’t treat this feature as a substitute for professional medical advice, as it’s only meant for educational reasons.

Amazon’s Alexa teams launched a COVID-19 self-checker feature in March 2020, and that’s what inspired them to develop and incorporate this symptom checker feature into Alexa. In Amazon’s blog post, the company emphasizes that it takes the users’ privacy seriously, so this new symptom checker is an optional experience. Those who don’t feel comfortable using the feature can skip questions they don’t feel like answering. Not only that, users can go through Alexa’s Privacy Settings or in the website or Alexa app to view, hear, and delete their voice recordings.

The new symptom checker is only one of the many health features incorporated into Amazon Alexa. Amazon Pharmacy customers who want to reorder any prescriptions they may have can say, “Alexa, refill my medications.” If you’re planning to get a COVID or booster shot, Alex can provide you with a list of nearby vaccination sites when you say, “Alexa, where can I get a COVID vaccine?” or “Alexa, where can I find a COVID vaccine booster shot?” Alexa will then schedule an appointment for you and send a link to your phone.

Scheduling a doctor’s appointment and getting connected with a Teladoc doctor has never been easier with Alexa. You can say, “Alexa, I want to talk to a doctor,” and the doctor will get back to you on your Echo device.

Notify When Nearby

Amazon Alexa has a new accessibility feature called Notify When Nearby, which makes receiving notifications a better experience for all users. When you enable Notify When Nearby, Alexa can detect any eligible Echo devices near them and alert any unread notifications by playing a particular sound. This ensures that users never miss a crucial alert or notifications, especially those who can’t see any visual alerts on Echo devices.

Access Your Integrated Channel Guide

By saying, “Alexa, open the guide,” you can now effortlessly access and customize your integrated channel guide on Fire TV. You can find the guide by going to the Live tab option; then, you can press the menu on your Alexa Voice Remote to find the “Add Channel” option. You can use this option to add live channels from your favorite apps effortlessly. Amazon’s Fire TV blog has more information regarding this for those interested.