Alexa’s Announcement broadcast feature comes to Sonos speakers and more

Alexa’s Announcement feature, which lets you broadcast voice messages to other Echo devices, has been available since April, but Amazon is opening up the feature to other devices. The Announcement feature is now available for Alexa-enabled Sonos speakers like the One and the Beam, as well as other devices like the Ecobee4 smart thermostat and Switch+ smart light switch.

The feature is particularly handy when using it as a one-way home intercom. For instance, if you’re a parent, you can say, “Alexa, announce that dinner is ready,” and it’ll broadcast the message to every Alexa-enabled device in the household. You can also trigger the broadcast feature through the commands, “Alexa, tell everyone…” and “Alexa, broadcast…”

Google Home has an identical feature, which lets you broadcast messages throughout all Google Assistant-enabled devices in your home. It’s been available to all Assistant-enabled speakers since last November, so Amazon is playing catch-up here by rolling out its Announcement feature to third parties. But hey, now your thermometer can tell your kids that it’s time for them to do their homework. That’s one more authority figure your kids can respect.

Image: Ecobee