The “hands-free” Alexa feature had only been available on the Fire HD 10 so far, Amazon’s flagship tablet, but that changes today. Amazon has confirmed that it’s bringing this feature to other models in the Fire tablet lineup. Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 users will soon be able to use Alexa hands-free on their tablets as well.
Alexa has been available on Amazon’s tablets for quite some time now however, the hands-free mode was kept limited to the Fire HD 10. No other tablet supported Alexa in hands-free mode until today and now the company is rolling out this feature for free as part of an over-the-air software update. Amazon says that the update will be rolled out over the week.
What “hands-free” means is that users will be able to launch Alexa with just a voice command when the tablet’s screen is being used or it’s connected to a power outlet. This feature is now being rolled out to Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 (2017) tablets.
Once they enable the feature, users will be able to give commands to Alexa without having to tap on anything. They can give it any and all commands that it’s capable of working on, such as controlling smart home devices, checking the calendar, streaming music, and much more.