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Alexa app for Android - intents?

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coyote

Alexa app for Android - intents?
« on: January 17, 2017, 09:13:49 am »
Alexa does not yet do 'push' notifications. So here's what I'm thinking:

Figure out the Android intents that the Alexa app uses to do things.... then utilize them. The idea of recording memos and then playing them back manually is already out there as a means to communicate. A possible way to automate them is via android intents.

Any android wizards out there??

StevenR

Re: Alexa app for Android - intents?
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2017, 12:56:06 pm »
Although the Alexa Android app may have intents, there probably won't be any intents which allow control of the Echo itself (as most of the features are controlled by voice).

I have been considering another way of doing this, by creating a custom app which uses the Alexa Voice Services but takes the audio input from another source (such as text to speech) instead of from user input. This app could stream the audio from Alexa over Bluetooth to the Echo or Echo Dot and would give the impression that the speech is coming from and not from the app.
This could then work a bit like hack which involves disassembling the voice remote and connecting it to a Raspberry Pi, but less destructive.

Re: Alexa app for Android - intents?
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2017, 02:46:12 pm »
By pairing your PC to the Dot you could have a small program send sound back to the dot.
I do this now for notifications like if one of my doors is opened or a Weather Alert.
The PC voice plays threw the Dot but mine is close to sounding the same. ;)

coyote

Re: Alexa app for Android - intents?
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2017, 12:27:50 pm »
I already put an android tablet's BT audio through the Dot.
That's fine if you have one Dot. but if you want to have alerts on ALL your Echo devices, it's not ideal.

I'm seeking to manipulate the android Echo app itself.

Re: Alexa app for Android - intents?
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2017, 01:04:25 pm »
I already put an android tablet's BT audio through the Dot.
That's fine if you have one Dot. but if you want to have alerts on ALL your Echo devices, it's not ideal.
Agreed, it would be nice to have the notifications sent to all Dots. I wonder if IFTTT could be used somehow.
The Alexa option in IFTTT  isn't available to me so I'm not sure what can be accomplished using it.

Offline kevb

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Re: Alexa app for Android - intents?
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2017, 01:19:16 pm »
At this time, IFTTT has no actions for Alexa. Alexa can only be the IF part, not THAT.

coyote

Re: Alexa app for Android - intents?
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2017, 07:55:25 pm »
At this time, IFTTT has no actions for Alexa. Alexa can only be the IF part, not THAT.
That's correct. But I'm seeking a different way.

The logic is: all android apps operate via intents. So if one could find the right intents and ensure that the authorization were valid, one could deploy the Alexa android app as a sort of push notification server. You'd likely be limited to prerecorded snippets stored in your music file, but it could still be useful.