Alexa now requires your kids to say ‘please’ before she’ll do what they ask
If you’re on a mission to make your kids more polite, Alexa may be able to help you with that. Thanks to some new, kid-friendly updates, the virtual assistant will now respond to any command from a kid with, “What’s the magic word?”
The new feature is part of Amazon FreeTime, which includes a number of other parental controls, such as explicit song filtering, bedtime limits and educational Q&A. Parents can prohibit purchases until they give consent as well as access “Activity Review” to hear what their kids have been asking Alexa to do. The feature is free to use.
There is also a premium version, Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, which is a content subscription service exclusively for Echo devices, and which includes access to over 300 Audible kids’ books, kid-friendly radio stations and playlists, character alarms as well as premium Alexa skills from Disney, Nickelodeon, National Geographic and more. The service is available for $2.99 per month for Prime members, and is free for existing FreeTime Unlimited members.
And as if all that weren’t enough, there’s a new Echo Dot specifically for kids, the Echo Dot Kids Edition. It sells for $79.99 and includes a year of FreeTime Unlimited Family Time, a case and a two-year warranty. It is now available for pre-order, and will begin shipping on May 9.
Do you use Alexa in your home? Do you think your kids need one of their own?