Amazon has debuted a new feature for its Prime Music subscribers in Canada – hands-free Alexa control for iOS and Android.
In September 2017, Amazon added Alexa to the Music app as a tap-to-talk feature in the United States and UK. When the feature was introduced to Canada last month, users were able to tap the Alexa tab and speak to the assistant. But now the functionality is hands-free. Instead of tapping the Alexa tab, users in Canada and the U.S. can just say “Alexa,” followed by instructions to play music, pause, stop, or move back and forth between songs, and more.
Hands-free listening with Alexa has been one of the top requests by customers, according to Amazon. Users can disable the feature at any time within settings in the app.
To start enjoying the feature, users have to update or download the Amazon Music app from the Google Play or App Store. Once the app is opened in the foreground, it’ll give the user access to all of the hands-free features they use on Echo devices, such as playing music by genre, mood, song title or artist, and much more. No need to search or browse, explains Amazon.
While most digital assistants enable users to control music with voice, Amazon’s in-app integration is quite unique. For example, when you search for tracks using your voice in Google Play Music, it’s a simple text-to-speech system. Amazon’s new feature with the digital assistant built into apps gives you more fine-tuned control and seamless experience.
