How to use Amazon Alexa in nations where it isn’t available

Amazon Alexa now is readily accessible in over 42 regions of the world and in a number of languages, making it more accessible than before.

Alexa now can collaborate in much less prominent locations, such as the Cayman Islands and Cambodia, after initially being supported only in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, and Germany.

However, it’s not as simple as having to log into your Amazon account and order an Echo Dot or a full-fledged Amazon Echo smart speaker.

We’ll go over how to get Alexa if you live outside of the United States, which features you’ll have access to, and some potential workarounds if you run into problems.

What is the best way to get an international Echo device?

If you really want Alexa, the very first thing you’ll need is, well, an Alexa-enabled gadget. There’s plenty of those to select from if you live in the United States or Europe, but it’s a different story if you live in, say, South America or parts of Africa.

You only can purchase particular foreign editions of the Echo Dot, second-generation Echo, or first-generation Echo Plus, so your choices are limited. There is currently no international version of the Echo Show.

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If you really want to buy a few of these devices, go to Amazon US, Amazon UK, or Amazon DE and look for the international version.

Power sources differ by-product, and there are prerequisites for voltage, wattage, frequency, and multi-way swapping support, among other things. The same is truly the case for Wi-Fi, though we assume you have that covered if you’re logging on to purchase an Echo device.

Because you’ll be placing an order from either the United States, the United Kingdom, or Germany (generally, those in Europe will have to order from Amazon DE, while everybody else would have to order from Amazon US), keep an eye out for customs duties and import taxes.

Fortunately, if you reside in an Amazon Global program territory, these are approximated and accumulated as a deposit when you check out. If you don’t, you’ll be liable for any fees incurred at the time of delivery.

Features that are supported

Maybe you’ll want to know precisely what an international version of the Echo is competent of before you buy one. As we previously mentioned, you don’t get the same features as people in the United States or the United Kingdom.

Shopping, local traffic and business search, select skills from the Alexa Skills store, location-specific information and news, Audible, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, and SiriusXM are all features that Amazon explicitly states are not accessible on the international version of the Echo.

In the meantime, there’s a group of functionalities that Amazon explains as “generally supported.” So there are no assurances, but you should be able to use TuneIn, Amazon Music Unlimited (in the 35 countries where it is available), smart home, timers, calendars, alarms, news, shopping lists, and the weather.

The excellent thing is that the international device listings on Amazon provide a country-by-country break — down of the supported features, which is quite useful.

However, the problems don’t stop there. You’ll need to use the Alexa app on your smartphone to establish smart home routines and other additional features.

What is the issue?

The Alexa app does have a very limited user base. You can check the availability in your local app store, but you might need to go to alexa.amazon.com to see if it’s available. Again, the Amazon product checklist will inform you whether the app is readily accessible in your country for iPhone or Android.

Oh, and while Alexa now can speak English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), and Spanish, the international version only supports English, German, and Spanish, though you can nevertheless change the Alexa Accent.

What if my country is not backed up?

Of course, one option is to wait patiently for your nation’s complete support — after all, Amazon is expanding rapidly Alexa’s reach.

Though if you’re impatient, or you’ve come here just because Alexa isn’t behaving herself in your nation, there are a few steps that can help. You’ll need to test with modifying your location if you’re having trouble able to download the Amazon Alexa app because you live in, say, South Africa or Israel.

When you’re using iOS, this means going into your Apple ID and changing your billing information. If you’re using Android, the procedure is similar.

This will wreak havoc with your climate services and other things, but you can change the device’s destination from the web version of the Alexa app. Simply edit the time difference and address in Settings > Your Device > General.

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