April 09, 2020
by Ezlo Admin

Sometimes the easiest way to communicate is through text message. We text our family and friends every day. And if you don’t have a phone handy, you can ask Alexa or Google Assistant to send a message for you. So why can’t you text Alexa or Google Assistant directly? We asked that question, and then decided to do something about it.

As part of Phase 2 of our VOI platform, we’ve released a chat feature into Beta this week that allows you to communicate with your voice assistants via text, and have them reply to you, as well.

Imagine you’re out at dinner with your friends and you realize you forgot to buy a birthday card for your mom. Just text Alexa to remind you about it the next morning—and as she’s giving you the daily rundown over breakfast, she can also remind you to go get that card. You’ll be grateful for the reminder, and Mom will be grateful for you.

Here’s another example. You and your wife are watching a movie on the couch, and after it ends, you look over and notice your wife is sleeping. You know she doesn’t like to be woken just to go back to bed upstairs, so you can quietly text Google Assistant to turn off the lights and allow her to sleep until she wakes up on her own.

Or, in possibly the simplest instance, your voice assistant is just too far away to hear you and you don’t feel like walking over to talk to it. It’s not laziness, it’s convenience—and we’re really excited about it.

We’ll have more on this feature as it becomes available for general release. In the meantime, if you’d like to sign up to join our future beta tests, you can do so here for Android or iOS.

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