After launching a series of new Alexa development tools last week, Amazon today presents an updated version of its Alexa mobile app for consumers. The new app aims to offer a more personalized experience, particularly on users' home screens, and offers further instructions on how and when consumers can use the digital assistant, among other changes. In particular, the app has moved its third-party skill tips from the main screen, to increase the focus on how consumers are actually using Alexa.
The redesign offers an updated home screen, with a large Alexa button now at the top that informs users that they can tap or say "Alexa" to get started.
This is followed by a list of personalized tips based on what the use of the app is important to them - be it reminders, a recently played item such as their music or an Audible book, the access to their shopping list and so on.
Users can also see controls for features that are accessed frequently or that are currently active, such as the volume level for their Echo devices, so that they can pick up where they left off, Amazon says. It is worth noting that these Echo devices may include Echo Buds, Amazon's Alexa wireless earphones, which could be the key to his plans to enable Alexa's new features for mobile app control.
For novice users, the Alexa app will offer additional tips on what to do on mobile devices. For example, new users can see tips on playing songs with Amazon Music or instructions for managing their Alexa shopping list.
Meanwhile, the app's advanced features, such as reminders, routines, skills and settings, have been moved under the "More" button as part of the redesign.
The changes don't necessarily mean that Amazon has downgraded the Alexa home screen, however.
Since the update moved the Alexa button to the top of the screen, it left room in the navigation bar for a new button: "Play", which encourages multimedia playback.
The renewal also suggests that Alexa's dedicated app hasn't exactly found its weakness to become part of users' daily lives.
Previously, the app had shown the date and time at the top of the screen - an indication that Amazon had hoped the app would be some sort of daily dashboard. (Look down). Now, the company seems to understand that users will launch the app when they want to do something specific for Alexa. That's why it's simplifying the move to recent actions, so that they can actually pick up where they left off whatever they were doing on their Echo smart speaker, for example.
In addition, the new app in particular depreciates Alexa's third-party voice apps (also called "skills"), which have not yet evolved into an app ecosystem to compete with their mobile counterparts, such as the Apple App Store for iOS app or Google Play. Studies have indicated that a large number of Alexa skills were not being used, and as a result, the pace of new skills released has slowed down.
Instead of showing popular skills on the main screen, as before, the app's "Games and Skills" section has been scrambled into the "Other" tab. Amazon's first-party experiences, such as shopping, media playback and communications, now occupy this important space on the home screen.
Amazon says the new app will launch worldwide in the coming months on iOS, Android and Fire OS devices. By the end of August, all users are expected to be migrated to the new experience.
