My husband is a tad obsessed with technology. While we currently have both an audio and video baby monitor to keep an eye (and ear) on the twin babies, he wanted to make use of the Amazon Echo Dots that we currently have scattered across our house to monitor the children.
I’ve tried this out and it works GREAT! An excellent idea for parents not wanting to shell out $100+ for a new baby monitor and for nannies and sitters that might want to keep an ear on what the older kids are doing in the other room.
If you already have Echo devices installed in your home, this will literally take about three minutes to set up.
What You Need:
- Two or more Amazon Echo devices
- A smartphone
Step #1: Install Echo Devices
If you haven’t already, plugin your devices and join them to the same wireless network. Place one device in the room that you want to listen in on (i.e. child’s bedroom or TV room) and the other device(s) where you want to listen from (i.e. kitchen or your bedroom). Make sure that the Echo devices are all registered under the same customer account.
Step #2: Name the Devices
You’re going to be using the drop-in feature available on the Echo devices. As such, make sure that you name the devices appropriately so that they coorespond to the name of the room they will be installed in. Examples: “Kids’ Rooms” or “TV Room”.
To change the name of your device:
a) Open the Alexa app on your smartphone.
b) Click the hamburger icon (three lines) in the upper left hand corner. Scroll down and click “Alexa Devices”.
c) Once you have clicked on “Alexa Devices”, find the device you want to rename (or name) and click it.
d) Then, click “Edit Name” and enter the name you would like to use for the device. Stay on this screen for the next step.
Step #3: Enable “Calling & Messaging”
You will need to enable “Calling & Messaging” on all of the Echo devices that you want to use for the baby monitor. If you have one Echo device in the kids’ room and once Echo device in the kitchen, you need to enable “Calling & Messaging” for both. If you have additional Echo devices in your home, complete the following steps so that you can use them for the baby monitor system as well.
a) From the same screen on the Alexa app that you renamed/named your device, scroll down and click “Communications”
b) Toggle “Calling & Messaging” to on (the toggle will turn blue when on)
c) Select “My Household” so that other Echo devices in your home can communicate with this one.
IMPORTANT: If you have babies or small children, go to the device that is in the room that you want to monitor (i.e. kids’ bedroom) and turn the volume on that Echo device all the way down. This is to ensure that you don’t wake the babies with the chime when you activate the baby monitor system or with any noises you might make.
You are now set up to use your Echo devices as a baby monitor system!
To use, make sure that both devices are on and connected to your wireless network. Go to the room where you will be (i.e. kitchen, living room, dining room) and say to the Echo device in that room:
“Alexa, drop in on Kids’ Room” (or whatever you named the device in the room that you want to monitor)
You will hear a tone and a green light will start spinning around the Echo device. You are now listening live to what is happening in the other room! To end, simply say, “Alexa, stop” and the device will disconnect.
I hope you found this useful and enjoy!