Echo Calling/Drop in available in the UK, no Conversation icon in the IOS app!

[rogersmj]

Hi all,

I am under the impression that the calling and drop-in ability is now available in the UK (please correct me if I am wrong). When I ask Alexa to drop in, it tells me to set up my communication settings in the app, however when I open the iPhone IOS app I don't have the communications icon at the bottom in the middle.

I've tried re-loading the app, checking with settings for contact information via the Amazon UK website, and have contacted Amazon Alexa support twice - however I still have no information to help.

Has anyone got the same problem, has anyone sorted it, should I not bother until its live in the UK?

[AlanH]

It certainly isn’t live on iOS. The last iOS app update was a month ago, and the firmware hasn’t been updated for a while. For those on Android, there seems to be a workaround to get the latest version of the app, and enable calling and drop in. Officially, though, I don’t believe this feature has been launched in the UK yet.

[rogersmj]

Ok thanks for the info. Thats actually good news as I thought I had an issue with my hardware or set up!

The last email from Amazon about it told me that they were working on the issue. I guess that means that they are probably working on the new version!

[hazymat]

Glad it's not just me!

I was reading various reports on websites of national news outlets, UK tech blogs, etc., even referred to Amazon UK help site which states it has been released in the UK, but still couldn't find the damned button to enable it.

Hope to see an Alexa app update soon...

[AlanH]

What’s confusing is that this page suggests that Calling & Messaging is up and running in the UK when it’s patently not, at least for the iOS platform.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=s9_acss_bw_en_odsaug_d_1_3_w?_encoding=UTF8&node=14072704031&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_r=6TN4B3FQ8PAMP5JQZW8A&pf_rd_r=6TN4B3FQ8PAMP5JQZW8A&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=cd44d9c8-3c48-490f-aee7-a2df1468a838&pf_rd_p=cd44d9c8-3c48-490f-aee7-a2df1468a838&pf_rd_i=12728352031

[StevenR]

What’s confusing is that this page suggests that Calling & Messaging is up and running in the UK when it’s patently not, at least for the iOS platform.

At the top of the page it says "Alexa calling and messaging is rolling out across the Echo family over the coming days." so they are being deliberately vague about when it will be fully rolled out.

[AlanH]

iOS app updated to support calling and messaging in the UK.

[Jon1606]

Hi all

Right I read about this in the on Friday 29th Sept and was very excited (sad I know), anyway I could not get it to work so I called Amazon.

They told me that no update to the app was needed BUT the
device software version of my Dot must be at 588443320.

I have three dots and they are all on version 588443520.

The upgrade to the version is being rolled out in a controlled manner and should be done within the week for all dots.

I am holding my breath !

[rogersmj]

Horray! We have a chat icon in the Alexa iOS app!

Thats the good news......

The bad news is that its a total nightmare to set up, unless all the echos have been bought by the same person and are on the same Amazon account!

I have 2 echos, one bought by myself on my prime membership, the other bought by my son, on my prime membership, but as an extra person (my son shares my prime one day delivery stuff based on the settings).

Now, I can call and talk to my echo from my phone app, and I can call my phone app from my echo. My son can call and talk to his echo from his phone app and visa versa.... But can I call my sons echo!? Nope. Can he call mine? Nope!

So I started looking into this and theres this talk about using your contacts, so I created a new contact called the same as my sons echo and he done the same with his contacts called the same as my echo... Still no luck! And now I get issues as I have my sons contact details on 2 contacts!! arrgggg!

I saw theres this new 'household' thing where by you can elect for one adult to share all your prime membership stuff, and by the looks of it this might be someway for this to work, however that means I have to give full access and my son can then buy stuff with my credit card and see all my settings and so on! Surely that not the way this works?

Can anyone shed light on what i'm doing wrong. Indeed am I doing something wrong or is this how it all should happen...?

Also when I did call my echo from my phone, the drop-in simply opens up the communication! Theres no notification, or option for the echo not to connect. The echo just makes a calling noise and then connects??? Thats not right is it??? I can see issues with people using this to eavesdrop!

At the moment i'm very disappointed!

[strayfish]

It's just appeared on my app too but for the moment I've not let it loose on my contacts and I've switched on Do Not Disturb for all of the devices to be on the safe side until I've figured it out! I pre-ordered a Show and from what I can tell after a quick skim of the info, someone can 'drop in' without warning and the camera is activated which could be a shock for all concerned! I'm going to sleep on it, then maybe have breakfast, and lunch ...

[balabing79]

It's just appeared on my app too but for the moment I've not let it loose on my contacts and I've switched on Do Not Disturb for all of the devices to be on the safe side until I've figured it out! I pre-ordered a Show and from what I can tell after a quick skim of the info, someone can 'drop in' without warning and the camera is activated which could be a shock for all concerned! I'm going to sleep on it, then maybe have breakfast, and lunch ...

yes you are right about the drop and whilst for everyday users i would not recommend the drop in feature being activated it does have some really great uses, such as say you have an elderly parent living alone, you could drop in anytime to check they are ok and i do believe you can chose who you allow drop in access to and no just every joe blogs in your contacts. so yes is great feature for some i think though i need to look more into this myself.

[strayfish]

Quite alarming really. I've still to figure out how to prune my contacts for if I want to use the Call service and the idea that a camera could be activated without any intervention from me is horrifying. I'd probably do the same with that as my laptop - stick a piece of tape over it!