In this article, you will learn Alexa voice commands to set timers on your Amazon Echo assistant.
There are many ways to formulate your request to Alexa and Amazon is constantly improving its speech recognition and functionality. Here we give you some examples of commands we tested that should help you explore Alexa’s capabilities.
Even if you have more than one Echo device, the timer you set on one will only run on that one you gave the instructions to.
Set a timer
Without indicating a duration
Alexa, timer
You
Alexa, set | program a timer
Alexa te demandera la durée que tu veux pour ton minuteur.
For how long?
Alexa
[10 minutes]
You
[10 minutes] starting now!
Alexa
By indicating a duration
Alexa, set a [12 minutes] timer
You
Alexa, start a timer for [12 minutes]
[12 minutes] starting now!
Alexa
Naming the timer
You may want to create multiple timers for different activities. Alexa allows you to give each timer a name so you can differentiate them. This also allows Alexa to warn you if you try to create the same timer twice. When the timer has run out, Alexa will not only sound an alarm but also tell you the name of the timer which has just ended.
Alexa, set a [18 minutes] timer for [pizza]
You
[pizza] timer, [18 minutes] starting now!
Alexa
18 minutes later, Alexa will sound an alarm and tell you which timer just went off.
Your [pizza] timer is done!
Alexa
Cancel a timer
If you change your mind after setting a timer, you still have the option to cancel it before it ends.
Cancel a single timer
If you have only one timer running and you want to cancel it, Alexa will mention its name or initial duration.
Alexa, cancel the timer
You
[12 minutes] timer cancelled!
Alexa
[pizza] timer cancelled!
Specify which timer to cancel
If there are several timers running, you can specify which one Alexa should stop by giving its name or initial duration. If several timers without names have the same duration, Alexa will prompt you to go to her application to cancel one of them.
For a timer without name
Alexa, cancel the [12 minutes] timer
You
[12 minutes] timer cancelled!
Alexa
For a timer with a name
Alexa, cancel the [pizza] timer
You
[pizza] timer cancelled!
Alexa
Cancel all current timers
You might have lost track of all the timers you set. If you have multiple timers running and you want to cancel them all.
Alexa, cancel all my timers
You
Cancelling all of your timers
Alexa
Check the remaining time
This will give you the status of your timer(s). Alexa can give you the time left on your single timer or individual time left if you have several timers.
Alexa, how much time is left?
You
You have 4 minutes and 40 seconds left on your [pizza] timer
Alexa
For a unique timer
To get the time left on a particular timer, you can specify its name or its initial duration.
Alexa, how much time is left on my [pizza] timer?
You
Alexa, how much time is left on my [5 minutes] timer?
About 3 minutes and 40 seconds left
Alexa
For multiple timers
Our next example is for 3 timers, including a [pizza], a [cake] and a [20 minutes] unnamed timer. Alexa lists the timer with less time left first.
Alexa, how much time is left?
You
You have 3 timers:
Alexa
A [20 minutes] timer with about 40 seconds left,
[pizza] with about 4 minutes and 11 seconds left,
and [cake] with about 8 minutes and 5 seconds left
Stop the timer ringing
When the time on a timer has elapsed, an alarm will sound. To stop it, just say:
Alexa, stop
You
Alexa, dismiss
Set an additional timer
Several timers can be set. Alexa will be able to identify them by their initial duration or by the name you give them. As you add a new timer, Alexa will tell you if it is the second, third, etc…
Alexa, set a [5 minutes] timer
You
Second timer, [5 minutes] starting now
Alexa
Alexa, set a [4 minutes] timer
You
Third timer, [4 minutes] starting now
Alexa
Knowing what kind of timers are on
Maybe with all those timers on, you don’t know where you stand. Alexa can list them all for you in order of first to finish.
Alexa, what are the current timers?
You
Alexa, what are the programmed timers?
Alexa, how many timers are there?
You have 3 timers:
Alexa
A [20 minutes] timer with about 40 seconds left,
[pizza] with about 4 minutes and 11 seconds left,
and [cake] with about 8 minutes and 5 seconds left