Just weeks after gaining the ability to use the ‘Alexa’ hotword, the Amazon Alexa app is getting a much-needed revamp to focus on personalization and key features that users want to see front and center.
The home screen has now been completely redesigned (via TechCrunch) to deliver a more user-focused experience instead of showing third-party skills all the time. The most noticeable new change will have to be the big ‘Alexa’ button right at the top. You can tap it or say the hotword ‘Alexa’ to get your queries answered in a jiffy.
In my opinion, this is a step back as reachability could be a big issue on phones these days. The Alexa button being accessible from the navigation bar at the bottom would still offer a better experience than stretching your finger to the top of the screen. I get the idea behind the change though. It’s to highlight the presence of Alexa in the app.
Next up, third-party suggestions have been swapped out for new more personalized cards that prioritize first-party experiences. This means you will now see reminders, a recently played song (from Amazon Music or linked streaming service), your shopping list, and a myriad of similar suggestions. The weather and date card that showed off at the top has disappeared in the redesign.
Such suggestions will also come in handy for first-time users of the Amazon Alexa app on mobile. They might not want to perk up the experience with third-party skills right away. New users might just be there to experience Alexa’s AI skills and compare it to Google Assistant or Siri.
The new redesign does look cleaner and one of the reasons behind it could be the ‘More’ tab at the bottom right of the navigation bar. Amazon has tucked away some of the advanced features, ones that require some tweaking, such as Reminders, Routines, Skills, and Settings, under the ‘More’ tab.
The redesigned Amazon Alexa app is not live just yet. It should start rolling out to both iOS and Android users in the coming weeks. If you want to see how you can use Alexa hands-free on any of your devices, then click here to find out now.
