New Alexa feature lets you text Amazon’s voice assistant with commands

Just on iOS, though

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Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant (or should we say ‘text assistant’?) has now got a new messaging function, meaning US users can send texts direct to Alexa instead of asking it questions out loud. Who needs friends to text, eh?

The feature is currently in preview – as spotted byThe Ambient– and only available on iOS for a select number of users, but it marks a new shift in strategy for Amazon’s AI darling, and could well expand out to the global iOS and Android smartphone market in time.

Asking Alexa questions over text isn’t much different from typing a query intoGoogle, of course, but the feature does allow you to harness other Alexa functions in your smart home, such as turning on connectedsmart lightsor similar.

If you’re not in the vicinity of an Alexa compatible device like anAmazon Echospeaker, or don’t want to speak aloud in a public place, it’s a convenient workaround that still lets you make use of Alexa’s intelligent capabilities.Pocket-Lintobtained comment from Amazon on the matter, being told that “everything you can currently say to Alexa can now also be typed using your Alexa mobile app.”

It is worth noting thatGoogle Assistanthas been able to do this for a while, but it certainly expands what Alexa is capable of – and further narrows the discrepancies between the two major smart assistants.

The times, they are a-changing

Amazon continually brings out iterative updates to its smart assistant and its various connected devices, from small changes like the text messaging feature above – or thewebcam supportthat’s come to theAmazon Fire TV Cube– to big design overhauls to its range ofsmart speakers.

It’s easy to focus on the more external alterations, with the standardAmazon Echoin particular having gone from ‘steel tower’ to ‘fabric cylinder’ to ‘Pixar villain gadget’ in the course of just a few years.

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But Alexa is really the key product connecting Amazon’s smart hardware, and it’ll need to keep improving to stop Google Assistant (sorryBixby) becoming the smart assistant of choice in the decade to come.

Henry is a freelance technology journalist, and former News & Features Editor for TechRadar, where he specialized in home entertainment gadgets such as TVs, projectors, soundbars, and smart speakers. Other bylines include Edge, T3, iMore, GamesRadar, NBC News, Healthline, and The Times.

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