Alexa can let you know when the laundry stops

Alexa’s Routine feature is great when you want to set up a recurring action on a specific time on a certain day. I have them doing everything from turning on my smart lights at sundown to reminding me to give my dog his medication every month. 

But did you know you can also set up Alexa routines to respond to sounds? Which can come in really handy! You can set a text to be sent to you when the dryer starts beeping, which is nice if you’re in a different part of the house and can’t hear it yourself… 

Or set it up to alert you if someone starts coughing, or even if the baby starts crying.

Here’s how.

1. Go to the Alexa app and tap More on the bottom right.
2. Tap Routines, and then tap the plus sign in the upper right to create a new one.
3. Enter the routine name, say “Laundry is done”.
4. Then, tap When this happens and select Sound Detection to choose from the different pre-set sounds.
5. Choose which device you’d like to listen to for the sound; say, your basement one for laundry, or the bedroom for coughing if you have a sick family member. Then tap Next.
6. Under Add action, you can create the response you’d like, like a text message for a beeping appliance, or for soothing music to play when the baby starts crying.

Pro Tip: You can use these to remind you to act (ie, take the laundry out of the dryer before it gets wrinkled), or just to listen for when things happen. My friend uses an alert to text her when the dog starts barking, just so she knows how often he goes at it with the squirrels while she’s at work. And setting up detection for running water is nice if you’re away during a cold snap and want to keep an ear on the pipes.