Full List of Alexa Commands for the UK [with PDF Download]

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If you have an Amazon Echo or other Alexa-enabled device in your home, you’ll know just how useful Alexa can be. There seems to be a never-ending list of Alexa commands which makes it hard to keep track of them all.

Luckily, I’ve got you covered with this complete list covering music, movies, calendar, news, sports, smart home devices, and more. This is the only list of its kind that is specific to Alexa’s UK capabilities.

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Full List of Alexa Commands UK

Getting Started

Before I jump in to some of the more interesting commands, here are the basics that you need to know in order to use Alexa.

🆂 = Echo Show Only

Basic Commands

  • “Alexa, help.”
  • “Alexa, stop.” – stops the current task such as music, timer, etc.
  • “Alexa, set volume to [1-10].”
  • “Alexa, turn the volume up/down.”
  • “Alexa, louder/quieter.”
  • “Alexa, mute/unmute.”

User Profiles

  • “Alexa, which profile is this?”
  • “Alexa, switch to [name] profile.”
  • “Alexa, switch accounts.”
  • “Alexa, learn my voice.”

Alexa Voice Speed

  • “Alexa, speak faster.”
  • “Alexa, speak slower.”
  • “Alexa, speak at your default rate.”

Keeping Organised

Here are the commands you need to keep organised in you daily life:

Time and Date

  • “Alexa, what’s the time?”
  • “Alexa, what’s the date?”
  • “Alexa, set alarm for [time] on [day].”
  • “Alexa, wake me up at [time] to [song/radio station].”
  • “Alexa, snooze.”
  • “Alexa, set timer for [minutes or hours].”

Calendar Commands

  • “Alexa, what’s on my calendar for today/tomorrow?”
  • “Alexa, show my calendar.” 🆂
  • “Alexa, add [event] to my calendar for [day] at [time].”
  • “Alexa, what’s on my to-do list?”

When is it?

  • “Alexa, when does [daylight savings time] start?”
  • “Alexa, how many years has it been since [year]?”
  • “Alexa, when is [the next full moon]?”
  • “Alexa, what time will the sun rise/set on [date]?”

News, Weather, and Sport Commands

This next section will help you keep on top of everything that’s going on in your part of the UK, from current affairs to the traffic on your commute.

Commands for News

  • “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”*
  • “Alexa, what’s in the news?”
  • “Alexa, what’s the latest with the coronavirus?”
  • “Alexa, give me BBC News.”

*Your flash briefing is a personalised collection of local and national news, interviews, sports, and weather. Update it under ‘settings’ in the Alexa app.

Are you a news junkie? See my full list of Alexa commands for news in the UK.

Commands for Sport

  • “Alexa, what’s the latest premier league scores?”
  • “Alexa, what was the score between [team] and [team]?”
  • “Alexa, when are [team] playing next?”
  • “Alexa, did [team] win?”
  • “Alexa, sing me a chant about [premier league team].”
  • “Alexa, give me an insult about [premier league team].”
  • “Alexa, how many goals has [player] scored this season?”

Commands for Weather

  • “Alexa, what’s the weather like?”
  • “Alexa, what temperature is it right now?”
  • “Alexa, will it rain today?”
  • “Alexa, will I need an umbrella today?”
  • “Alexa, what’s the weather going to be like this weekend?”
  • “Alexa, show me the weekend forecast.” 🆂

Traffic and Commute

  • “Alexa, what’s the traffic like?”
  • “Alexa, what’s my commute look like?”

Music and Radio Commands

Alexa is every audio player you need, all rolled into one. In this next section, I’ll share the Alexa commands for music, radio, and podcasts.

Playing Songs

  • “Alexa, play [song/artist].”
  • “Alexa, play ” – See a list of Alexa playlists or curate your own.
  • “Alexa, play [music genre].”
  • “Alexa, play [radio station].”
  • “Alexa, play [podcast] from Spotify.”
  • “Alexa, play [song] in [room].” – stream to a different device.
  • “Alexa, play that song that goes [lyrics to song].”
  • “Alexa, stop playing in X minutes.”
  • “Alexa, shuffle mode on/off.”
  • “Alexa, loop.”
  • “Alexa, restart.”
  • “Alexa, set the bass to [1-10].”
  • “Alexa, increase the bass.”
  • “Alexa, decrease the treble.”
  • “Alexa, what’s playing?” – hear the name of current song, podcast, etc.
  • “Alexa, who sings this song?”
  • “Alexa, what was [artist]’s first album?”
  • “Alexa, Who is the lead singer for [band]?”

Audiobooks

  • “Alexa, read [audiobook].”
  • “Alexa, next/previous chapter.”
  • “Alexa, read a bedtime story to [name].”

These are just the basic commands, see my full guide to Alexa commands for Audible to find out more.


Commands for Movies and TV

If you have an Echo Show, you can actually stream movies and TV via the built-in screen. If you have a regular Echo or Echo Dot, you can still access Alexa’s database of information to find recommendations or find out what film your favourite actor has been in lately.

Commands for Watching Movies

  • “Alexa, watch [title].” 🆂
  • “Alexa, open Netflix.” 🆂
  • “Alexa, fast forward/rewind [minutes].” 🆂
  • “Alexa, next Episode.” 🆂
  • “Show me movies with [actor].” 🆂
  • “Show me [genre] movies.” 🆂

Movie Fact Commands

  • “Alexa, what is the IMDb rating for [show/movie]?”
  • “Alexa, tell me about the movie [movie name].”
  • “Alexa, show me movie times.” 🆂
  • “Alexa, who stars in [show/movie]?”
  • “Alexa, who plays [character] in [movie or TV show]?”
  • “Alexa, what was [actor]’s first movie?”
  • “Alexa, what is [actor]’s latest movie?”
  • “Alexa, how many Oscars has [actor] won?”
  • “Alexa, give me a [movie] quote.”

Shopping on Amazon

Of course, being owned by Amazon means that Alexa has full voice shopping capability, if anything it’s just too easy. Here are the commands for shopping on Amazon using your Echo:

  • “Alexa, buy more [Amazon item].”
  • “Alexa, order [Amazon item].”
  • “Alexa, what’s on my shopping list?”
  • “Alexa, add [item] to my shopping list.”
  • “Alexa, where’s my stuff?” [to track order].”

Search and Information

With the entire internet at her fingertips, you can ask her questions just as you’d type them into a search engine. Alexa uses Bing as the default search engine and unfortunately, there’s no way of changing this as it stands.

Here are a few commands to get you going:

  • “Alexa, what is [anything]?”
  • “Alexa, how do you spell [word]?”
  • “Alexa, what’s the definition of [word]?”
  • “Alexa, what’s another word for [word]?”
  • “Alexa, what’s the opposite of [word]?”
  • “Alexa, what rhymes with [word]?”
  • “Alexa, how do you make [recipe]?”
  • “Alexa, Wikipedia: [subject].”
  • “Alexa, how tall is [person or object]?”
  • “Alexa, how long is the flight from [place] to [place]?”
  • “Alexa, what is the distance between [place] and [place]?”
  • “Alexa, what is the population of the [place]?”
  • “Alexa, find the address for [business].”

Maths

Alexa is a maths genius that would give Rachel Riley a run for her money. Need to do a quick sum or convert your currency from pounds to dollars, no problem. Here are the main maths commands for Alexa:

  • “Alexa, what’s [number] plus/minus/times [number]?”
  • “Alexa, what’s [number] squared?”
  • “Alexa, how many [units] are in [units]?”
  • “Alexa, what is [X%] of [number]?”

Can’t Decide?

This next set of commands is for when you can’t make a decision or just don’t know what to ask Alexa. Get her to decide between two options using heads or tails, or have her tell you something interesting.

  • “Alexa, let’s chat.”
  • “Alexa, tell me a story.”
  • “Alexa, tell me something interesting.”
  • “Alexa, roll a dice.”
  • “Alexa, flip a coin.”
  • “Alexa, heads or tails?”
  • “Alexa, pick a number between [x] and [x].”
  • “Alexa, rock, paper, scissors.”
  • “Alexa, pick a card.”

Alexa Easter Eggs

If you’re ready to have a little fun with your Echo, check out some of these fun things to ask Alexa and prepare for some witty answers:

  • “Alexa, give me an Easter egg.”
  • “Alexa, who loves orange soda?”
  • “Alexa, tell me a joke.”
  • “Alexa, set phasers to kill.”
  • “Alexa, why did the chicken cross the road?”
  • “Alexa, I want the truth.”
  • “Alexa, sing Baby Shark.”
  • “Alexa, show me the money.”
  • “Alexa, what’s the first (or second) rule of Fight Club?”
  • “Alexa, I’ve got 99 problems.”
  • “Alexa, surely you can’t be serious.”
  • “Alexa, party time!”
  • “Alexa, what is your quest?”
  • “Alexa, nice to see you, to see you…”
  • “Alexa, Alexa, I’ll be back.”
  • “Alexa, this is a dead parrot.”
  • “Alexa, what is your cunning plan?”
  • “Alexa, beam me up.”
  • “Alexa, tell me a Star Wars fact.”
  • “Alexa, what Hogwarts house do you belong to?”
  • “Alexa, speak like Yoda.”
  • “Alexa, are you SkyNet?”
  • “Alexa, what is the Jedi code?”

Smart Home Commands

Did you know that Alexa can take control of most smart devices in your home, from light bulbs to thermostats? Here are some generic smart home commands for Alexa, however, each brand will have it’s own set of commands via their own skill.

Smart Lights

  • “Turn on the [room] light.”
  • “Turn off all the lights.”
  • “Make my [room] brighter.”
  • “Turn down the [room] light to 50%.”
  • “Alexa, make the [room] lights [colour].”

Smart Thermostat

  • “Alexa, what’s the temperature in the house?”
  • “Alexa, what temperature is [thermostat] set to?”
  • “Alexa, raise/lower the temperature by [X] degrees.”
  • “Alexa, set the temperature to [x] degrees.”

Home Security

  • “Alexa, show me [camera].” 🆂
  • “Alexa, hide the [camera].” 🆂
  • “Alexa, show me the last activity from [camera].” 🆂 – with a Ring camera or video doorbell.
  • “Alexa, talk to front door” – with a Ring video doorbell.

Robot Vacuum Commands

  • “Alexa, ask [robot] to start/stop vacuuming.”
  • “Alexa, tell [robot] to go home.”
  • “Alexa, ask [robot] where it is.”
  • “Alexa, ask [robot] to vacuum the [room].”

Other Smart Home Commands

  • “Alexa, discover my devices.” – find new devices with Alexa.
  • “Alexa, turn on/off [smart plug name].”
  • “Alexa, trigger [IFTTT recipe].”
  • “Alexa, lock my [door].”

Alexa commands will vary by manufacturer, see these dedicated guides for manufacturer-specific command lists:

Arlo Commands

BBC Sounds Commands

Dyson Commands

Hive Commands

Roomba Commands

Kieren

I have been building up my smart home since 2016 so I'm a bit of a smart home expert by now. On this blog, I share my favourite smart home devices that I've tested along with tips and tricks I learn by watching countless YouTube videos, scrolling through forums, and tinkering around with my own smart devices. I've always been a Google Home user but I'm starting to think Alexa might have the edge, what do you think?