3PO-LABS: ALEXA, ECHO AND VOICE INTERFACE
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3PO-Labs: Alexa, Echo and Voice Interface

Echo wake words

12/14/2015

63 Comments

 
It turns out, there are hidden "wake words" that Amazon have not publicly admitted to. This post will describe how to experimentally discover them and enable them.


*Note: While this article was accurate at the time it was written, Amazon has since added "Echo" as a third choice for wake word.  The approach we describe below is still valid for probing possible new wake words, but at present there are no known words that are working and unreleased.

**Updated 1/14/2017 to reflect that this is done through alexa.amazon.com, which is less obvious today than it was at the time of writing.

***Updated 1/30/2017 to reflect that the Computer wake word has indeed rolled out as the next option. It may have taken a year, but we were 2/2 in predicting the upcoming wake words!

The current state of things

Right now through the Echo/Alexa app we only have two options for wake words: "Alexa" and "Amazon"
You can check on your current wake word through a browser via the Alexa webapp at alexa.amazon.com. Note that you cannot access this page unless your Echo is plugged in and on a network. The page looks like this:
Picture
Alright, so if you click on that link then it takes you to the page that lets you select the wake word you want to use. And our options are woefully lacking (much to the dismay of all Echo users).
Picture

Here's how you change it to a custom word

Picture
Here's where the magic of using a desktop browser comes into play. This is an HTML drop down option box that contains two values. When you hit the "Save" button it submits whatever the current selected option value is*. The HTML code for it is to the right.

*If you plan to do this, please make sure to read the "Bad Results" section below before taking any action.

Step 1

PictureThis is what the page should look like at this step of the process.
So what we need to do is edit the values in the HTML page in your desktop browser, and then submit them to the Amazon servers to update your Echo. Here's how you do that. Right click on the drop down menu box, and select "Inspect Element" (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome all have this).

Step 2

This will open a window that will contain a ton of HTML code. Don't worry about it if you don't know how to read it. It should directly open and highlight to the portion of HTML code for the web element you selected (the drop down selection box). It will look like this (I'm using Firefox, but IE and Chrome are similar):
Picture
Right click on the <select> element which is highlighted, and select "Edit as HTML". This will then let you edit the values like a text editor.
Picture

Step 3

What you'll find so interesting here, is that you can change the wake words. Go ahead and change the value of the wake word in your HTML:

<option value="yourWakeWord">yourWakeWord</option>

For the purposes of this example I'm changing my wake word to "Echo". So I edit the value to look like this:
Picture
I don't know if capitalization matters or not. I've just been following Amazon's example. Now go ahead and left-click somewhere outside of that editing text box (but still inside the editor window). It should close the edit-box and apply the changes back to the webpage in your main browser window. Your browser should look like this:
Picture

Step 4

Hit the "Save" button. Your Echo will enter a rotating yellow LED state while it applies the changes, and in your browser you'll see this message.
Picture
Typically this update seemed to take maybe 5 seconds. Once it's complete you'll get one of two messages. The success message looks like this:
Picture
And the failure message looks like this:
Picture

The Good Results of Experimentation

     To be perfectly honest we've only found a few hidden wake words. It doesn't seem to accept arbitrary words. So you can't just rename your Echo to "Jarvis" or "R2-D2" etc. But you CAN rename it to "Echo" (what a lucky guess on our part!). We've experimented with a few other options we thought Amazon might have enabled on their back-end, like "Computer".
 

The Bad Results of Experimentation

     But don't try "Computer" just yet! The Alexa app accepts "Computer" as a valid wake word (although it seems to take 30 seconds to process it rather than just 5). But your Echo will never accept this as a wake word. The Echo will sit in spinning yellow LED mode forever. It won't respond to any verbal commands anymore. If you power cycle the Echo it will get locked in the boot-up cycle and be stuck forever in spinning blue LED mode. And again, won't respond to verbal commands.

     It is interesting to note that if you have a remote control bound to your Echo you can still issue it commands this way (since you're bypassing the wake word for activation). But it won't do the characteristic "beep" that lets you know it's listening for your input. It just sits spinning in blue mode and will perform any actions you tell it through your remote.

     If you get your Echo into a bugged state like this you will also be unable to change the wake word back to anything else. It will give you the error message on everything (even the valid ones "alexa" and "amazon"). The only way we've discovered to get out of this state is to do a factory reset, for which I'll include the instruction here:
To reset your Amazon Echo:
1.) Use a paper clip (or similar tool) to press and hold the Reset button for five seconds. The Reset button is located at the base of your Amazon Echo (near the power adapter port). After you press and hold the Reset button, the light ring on your Amazon Echo turns orange, and then blue.
2.) Wait for the light ring to turn off and on again. The light ring then turns blue and enters setup mode.
3.) Open the Alexa app to connect your device to a Wi-Fi network and register it to your Amazon account. To learn more, go to Set Up Your Amazon Echo.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201819000
Now I want to emphasize that the vast majority of wake words we tried just returned with the error message within seconds. The results from "Computer" we consider irregular, that's why I'm warning you here. If you do have to reset your Echo it's no big deal. It doesn't store any information so you lose nothing. It's already bound to your Amazon account. You just have to take a minute to re-register it with the wireless network you're on and it's back to perfect working order.

Community testing

So we've discovered 2 new wake words for your Echo (1 is buggy), and demonstrated how to test setting arbitrary words. But we need the Echo community's help for discovering more options. If you experiment with setting new wake words please share the results of your experiments here - both success AND failures. It'd be great to build a list of words that work, and a list that doesn't.
63 Comments
KG
5/13/2016 12:43:50 pm

I attempted your steps, but when hitting save, it said it was 'not able to change wake word at this time'. Any suggestions?

Reply
Eric Olson
5/13/2016 12:57:49 pm

Interesting - it's been a few months since we tried it, so I wonder if they finally put in checks on the server side. Out of curiosity, what wake word were you attempting?

Reply
UltraSniV4Ever link
8/20/2019 12:30:53 pm

Mine does the same, but my Alexa won't turn yellow. Maybe there is something wrong with my dream wake word (snivy) SOMEONE HELP

Reply
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2/16/2020 11:19:25 pm

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Jason link
11/6/2016 01:55:53 pm

I've got a petition going to try to get them to let us use "Computer" or an arbitrary wake word. Please sign it. https://www.change.org/p/amazon-allow-computer-to-be-a-wake-word-in-alexa-echo-and-google-home

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Eric Olson link
11/6/2016 05:56:00 pm

Good stuff. You should also make a feature request on the Alexa forums and link your Change.org petition in there. You'll get more eyes on it that way, and it'll also be visible to the Alexa developer advocates and evangelists.

https://forums.developer.amazon.com/spaces/185/index.html

Reply
Jason
11/7/2016 10:22:27 am

Thanks! I'm taking your advice

Jason
11/11/2016 08:15:44 pm

OK, so like no one signed it. But I am furious at Amazon for being such anti-consumer, self-promoting money grubbing jackasses that they so strongly feel they need to prevent us from enjoying the device in hopes that by forcing us to chant their brand names we'll give them more of our money. Mark my words I *WILL* find a way to hack this.

Chris
12/22/2018 07:21:35 pm

So, it's been over 2 years. How'd the hack go?(:

Reply
Mike T
12/28/2018 06:53:15 pm

Lol ...Jason said he "WILL" find a hack ...but he didn't say what millennium it wolud happen ...guess a lot of hot air there!

UltraSniV4Ever link
8/21/2019 01:04:19 pm

Now they allow it. Go to the Alexa App and see for yourself.

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martyn
11/7/2016 09:03:59 am

it dosent work for any other name . only works with echo even though echo is now a choice.

Reply
DanV
11/8/2016 12:25:00 pm

My daughter's name is Alexis so I definitely could not use Alexa, I tested and as suspected/expected saying her name triggered the Echo Dot every single time. I'm currently using Echo as mine came with that as an option. I would love to be able to use something other than Amazon or Echo.

Has anyone successfully tried "Dot" or anything appealing and usable? A better question is, is this even possible anymore? I've read other posts suggesting they may have nitched this 'bug' which was giving the ability to trick-change to a custom wake word.

Reply
Eric Olson
11/8/2016 01:16:27 pm

We tried Dot and Tap when those first came out, no luck. I wouldn't have expected those to work anyway, though, because they're single syllable words that aren't very distinct.

We've had a lot of people message us saying that even the "computer" trick doesn't work anymore, so they must've quashed that server-side, unfortunately.

Reply
Shorty
12/14/2016 11:47:33 am

FYI
Purchased 2 DotV2 the other day and Computer was on the list as a wake command, However it would never save. 1 Day later the option for Computer vanished

Reply
Amazonian Trekkie
12/18/2016 05:19:18 pm

Sitting next to my Echo watching Star Trek; thinking how cool it would be to live in the future just by saying "Computer... Lights", instead of "Alexa... Lights on.". Disappointing.

Reply
MalibuBlue
12/1/2017 03:17:18 pm

I was just watching Rick and Morty and thought Mr. Meeseeks would be an awesome name to use.

Reply
Rob
12/21/2016 03:35:09 pm

I would just like to use something that will keep the tv from triggering it, like "mudbone" or "vindaloo". Something phonetically rare. Right now Alexa triggers once or twice a day, and sometimes when I am in a conference call. This is a deal breaker Amazon. I'm going to have to see what google offers.

Reply
Eric link
12/26/2016 06:02:41 pm

That's an interesting point, considering that the set of current wake words was (reportedly) chosen for being phonetically distinct. I think Amazon is worried (brand issues aside) that people will pick words that are phonetically weak and end up having a bad experience, but by restricting our choices they also prevent us from picking a MORE distinct name like "Quetzalcoatl".

I've definitely noticed the phenomenon you describe - even when the word "Alexa" isn't used my TV will sometimes trigger Alexa with other combinations of words.

Reply
PhotoFM link
12/26/2016 05:22:45 pm

Agreed. They should let us record our own custom wake word. click custom, then record a word, repeat it for verification, and voila. simple as hell. wtf is with the indoctrination?

Reply
Eric link
12/26/2016 06:06:07 pm

That's actually a fairly novel suggestion you're making - describing the wake word via a voice input that's broken down into its constituent phonemes rather than a text input like we have now. It would allow for words with multiple pronunciations to be used without ambiguity.

Really surprised that I hadn't seen this suggestion anywhere before.

Reply
Don
12/28/2016 03:12:02 pm

This is what Garmin allows you to do with the Nuvi line, you can record a custom voice string for activation. Mine is currently 'get lost, nuvi'

Adse12321
1/5/2017 05:02:24 am

Can you try and tell me if "Navi" would be a working trigger word?

Reply
Forbidden Sin
1/11/2017 07:00:56 pm

Dude, that would be cool, like in serial experiments lain!

Reply
John
1/5/2017 12:18:50 pm

As far as R2-D2 is concerned... have you tried faking it out with real words, like "ARE TWO" or ARE TWO DEE TWO"?

Reply
Ken
2/15/2018 01:06:53 am

How about...

“ARE NOT”

Reply
StevieRuss
1/19/2017 12:46:35 pm

I'd change mine to DUDE. You could say things like, "Dude Shut Up". Or.. "Dude, Stop Playing The Piano". Or... "Dude, tell me the weather". I'd feel more at easy with a Dude to talk to.

Reply
Amazonian Trekkie
1/29/2017 10:32:59 am

Just now, I saw the option for "Computer" in the Alexa (Android) app! Changed; tested; works!!

Reply
Eric Olson link
1/30/2017 09:35:35 am

Nice! Just added a note to the top of this post mentioning that "COMPUTER" seems to have rolled out for most people.

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Amazonian Trekkie
1/29/2017 10:36:24 am

App now has "Computer" as an option!!

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Peter
3/25/2017 08:59:02 pm

I call mine "Yo"....

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Ogre56
4/9/2017 05:08:45 pm

Has anyone tried to change computer to comp? I run a computer business so computer is out ;)

Reply
Eric link
4/10/2017 12:30:28 pm

Actually, I think you'd have a hard time with "comp". Not only would it still be triggered every time you say "computer", since it's a subset of that word, but you'd also trigger it when you say things like "compensate", "compress", etc.

Generally speaking, Amazon has been careful to select only wake words that are highly unique phonetically, and most of them are 3 syllables. The one exception is "echo", which is less distinct and only 2 syllables, but has strong brand synergy.

Reply
Ben
10/6/2017 05:27:07 pm

Is there any way to change it to JARVIS? That would be the coolest thing ever.

Reply
Lily
12/23/2017 10:45:58 pm

Just keep on praying to the Marvel gods. :(

Reply
Ken
2/15/2018 01:09:17 am

I want to call mine Jeeves... (complete with the stiff jaw)

Reply
Eric
10/6/2017 06:51:17 pm

We actually tried that one for a follow-up blog post! http://www.3po-labs.com/blog/new-wake-word-and-a-bit-of-research

Short answer, though, no. BUT, you should keep asking Amazon! Their newest wake word is "Computer", from Star Trek, and that only happened because of people asking for it constantly...

Reply
GolferGreen
12/1/2017 03:31:22 pm

Where can I request the wake word HAL?

Reply
Samantha Daily link
12/22/2017 09:19:45 am

Check out the list in the blog post: http://www.3po-labs.com/blog/new-wake-word-and-a-bit-of-research

Doesn't look like HAL has been tried yet. I'm hoping for GLaDOS!

Reply
Lily
12/23/2017 10:44:51 pm

Goddamit, no JARVIS yet? I just wanna be Tony Stark :'(

Reply
Crash
12/30/2017 10:58:30 am

Forget 'computer', I'd like to set it for 'Stella dear'.

Reply
Michelle
1/2/2018 02:13:44 pm

It would really be nice for The Echo Dot to allow custom wake words so the my special needs niece could set-up the Dot to a word she can speak clearly.

Oh well, another organization that is not inclusive in its thinking.

Reply
Dr JS
4/21/2018 08:22:35 pm

I agree completely. I have a friend who has Huntingdon's and one of our rationales for putting the Echo in all rooms is that if she got into difficulty, she could use it to do the voice calling or trigger an emergency event. However, due to her progressively poor speech, it doesn't recognise her pronunciation of the standard words anymore. We'd like the option of finding what we CAN use, and utilise that instead.

Reply
Joe
2/23/2018 06:58:09 pm

JARVIS, come on Amazon, somehow make this happen.

Reply
Dave
4/15/2018 03:30:17 pm

It's "Oi" for me

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Ricky
8/16/2018 09:17:45 am

is this method not usable anymore?

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David
8/28/2018 12:58:59 pm

I'd like to call mine "Baby Jesus". I'd really like to be able to customize this more readily.

Reply
me
10/7/2018 01:17:28 am

Snugglebutt

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Xavier link
1/5/2019 03:30:00 pm

Jarvis would be cool, but id imagine such obvious requests become dull after a while, on the programmer side. A fair compromise of originality meets nerd factor, imho, would bring able to change the wake word to "Friday". Others may include: Homer, Plato, Virgil, Jokasta, Helen, last but not least Veronica. Perhaps Vision as well by technicality since Jokosta made the list.

Reply
PETER
1/20/2019 06:41:18 am

I have multiple units:
Living Room, Bedroom, Kitchen, Office.
I want to name them by room. That should be an option.

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LoganM
2/4/2019 04:56:39 pm

I just want to call mine “Alfred”. :(

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Brit link
4/7/2019 07:26:18 pm

Thank you, I've been looking for a way to change the wake words.

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Louis Linsley
4/23/2019 07:53:07 pm

I talk to myself.. Randomly, I discovered 'hot sauce ' a additional wake word for echo device. Huh.
I didn't customise this. My devices also respond to other random words..

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Robert Ray
9/7/2019 05:50:05 pm

Amazon should let people customize option like your phone has.

Reply
Andrew
12/17/2019 03:51:10 pm

I was hoping to be able to have "shit box" as my wake word, because then my kids would stop hijacking my tunes. They will not use profanity, and know that if I hear the echo playing music, that someone said "shit box".

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Dr Cranny
5/22/2020 08:49:34 pm

People angrily denouncing Amazon for not letting them put arbitrary wake words don’t seem to understand that the Alexa devices DON’T DO speech recognition. They don’t have any way (by themselves) to turn your words to text and then compare that to a setting of your choice.
The Amazon SERVERS do the speech-to-text. Why is that relevant? Because if you wanted to be able to go to their website and set “blurtle” as your wake word, the devices would have to be constantly streaming every sound from your house to the Amazon servers to testing it for that, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Not only would that be a vast waste of bandwidth, but it would be absolutely catastrophic for privacy!
Instead they have trained a few word models, compact enough to fit on to your devices, but each capable of separating a specific word from arbitrary amounts of background noise, TV, music, other conversations, with remarkably good (though certainly not perfect) accuracy. Then if that wake word is detected locally on your device, your audio immediately starts streaming to their servers for analysis. That method ensures your words aren’t being listened to on their servers unless you have specifically spoken one of the few wake words. Training an audio detector for a word and having it work well with multiple users under a wide variety of conditions is a very difficult task, and it takes many thousands of training cycles, which is why you can’t simply magic a detector for “blurtle” into existence.

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Rick Collins
5/29/2020 09:28:06 am

Hi Doc, seems to me that the mainframe could download the code to listen for a new wake word to the echo device that you are setting. For example, I specify Freddy for my echo dot and the mainframe creates and downloads the routine to listen for Freddy (just like it has a routine to listen for Alexa, Amazon, Echo, or Computer). Once the routine is downloaded the listening for Freddy would not need any further mainframe interaction.
The problem may be the voice training you describe, but that may be solved somewhat by a little bit of training with your voice (and others that you want to include) that the mainframe could do once when you choose your wake word.
Sounds to me like a person month or two of programming and maybe a firmware change to echo devices. (But then I was never very good at estimating my programming projects. :-)

Reply
Bit o'Woods
5/29/2020 09:31:59 am

And four months of testing so the firmware release does not screw up existing echo devices! Yes, under estimated for sure.

Mystic Piano
8/5/2020 07:05:41 am

How can I do this

Bill Clontz
1/13/2021 04:45:42 am

I would very much like my Alexa dot to respond to the wake word "Jeannie"........

And she would call me master.....
Just like my favorite childhood show.

Reply



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