How to Create Alexa Profiles for Your Whole Family [Step by Step Guide]

Alexa is a handy tool to connect your smart devices together. Using voice commands is one of the easiest ways to control devices, after all. Extending the use of Alexa’s voice recognition software to your whole family is the most obvious next step to increase its accessibility.

Everyone has certain preferences that they may not share with others. Creating individual Alexa profiles makes sure that the experiences are distinct for each user. Integrating these separate profiles into a single account enhances the convenience of Alexa and provides a seamless smart home experience from one user to another. In this article, we’ll show you how to create Alexa Profiles for your whole family.

There are two things you should do in order to make Alexa recognize the different members of your family. You first need to give access to your Alexa capable devices to the separate members of your family through their Amazon accounts, then create separate voice profiles in the Alexa app.

To integrate the different Amazon accounts, you’ll be using Amazon Household. Once that’s done. You can use the Alexa app for voice profile creation.

What Is the Amazon Household?

The Amazon Household is a term referring to the linking of separate Amazon accounts into one profile. This not only allows the sharing of content, but gives adult users the ability to control what the younger members can access. It’s both a way to increase accessibility and provide content control when using Amazon’s services.

An Amazon Household can contain the following member accounts:

• Up to two adult accounts, each with a separate Amazon profile.
• Up to four teen accounts. Teens are those between the ages from 13 to 17 years old. Each teen account can have separate Amazon login credentials.
• Up to four child accounts aged 12 and below.

In all, an Amazon Household can have a maximum of ten accounts.

How Do I Create an Amazon Household?

To proceed with the creation of the Amazon Household, all members of your family should already have an Amazon account ready. If they don’t have one, they can create one using the Amazon account creation page.

Follow the instructions during the account creation. Please remember to designate both teen and child accounts as such. The Amazon Household will only accept one additional adult account.

To create an integrated Amazon Household with all of your family’s accounts, do the following:

1. Open and log in to your Amazon account. This is best done on a PC or laptop.
2. Hover over your account name on the upper right side of the homepage.
3. From the dropdown menu, click on Account.
4. Scroll down the page and look for the Shopping programs and rentals box.
5. From the list, click on Amazon Household.
6. Scroll down the page to find the Add buttons. You now have several options available:
   To add another adult:
   1. Click on Add Adult
   2. Type in their name and email address in the spaces provided.
   3. Click on Continue.
   4. The other party now has 14 days to accept the invitation. Once accepted, follow the prompts as given in the message.
   
   To add a teen:
   1. Click on Add a Teen
   2. Follow the prompts as given. The teen will be invited through email, and they should accept it.
   3. Once accepted, follow the prompts as given.
   4. As with adult accounts, the teen has 14 days to accept the invite.
   
   To add a child:
   1. Click on Add a Child.
   2. Enter the child’s details on the popup screen.
   3. Click on Save.

To remove members from the Amazon Household, you can do the following:

1. Open your Amazon Household page.
2. Click on Edit or Remove under the icon of the persons you want to remove.

Once set up, you can use the Amazon Household profile with your Alexa capable device to enable all people under it to use the device. From here, you can set up separate voice profiles via the next step.

What Is an Alexa Voice Profile?

When talking about voice profiles in Alexa, this refers to a distinct voice that Alexa can recognize. Users can set up multiple voice profiles in Alexa by teaching the software the particular pitch and tone of a person’s speech. This is done by speaking aloud several lines of text that the app will display during the Alexa voice profile setup.

Once you have all the Amazon accounts ready, you’ll be using the Alexa app to make distinct Alexa voice profiles for each of your family members. If you’ve ever asked yourself, ‘How do I set up a voice profile in Alexa?’, then these are the steps:

1. Open the Alexa App on your mobile device. It’s available both on the Google Play Store and the Apple App store.
2. Sign in with your Amazon account.
3. On the homepage, tap on the menu button on the upper left corner of the screen. This is the three lines icon.
4. Tap on Settings from the list.
5. Tap on Account Settings from the popup menu.
6. Tap on Recognized voices.
7. Tap on Create a Voice Profile.
8. When you’re ready, tap on Continue at the bottom of the screen. Alexa will then ask you to read out several lines of text. Follow the prompts.
9. Once the prompts are over tap on Done.

To add a second voice profile to Alexa, you can do the following:

1. If you’re using the same mobile device as the one used above, sign out of the Alexa profile. If you’re using another person’s mobile, proceed to open the Alexa app.
2. Sign in to the account with their Amazon Household linked account.
3. From the choices that appear, tap on + I’m someone else.
4. Enter the name of the new user profile.
5. Tap on Continue.
6. If you want to associate a phone number to the profile, enter one now, otherwise tap on Skip in the upper right corner of the screen.
7. Tap on the menu button in the upper left corner of the screen. This is the three lines icon.
8. Tap on Settings on the menu.
9. Scroll down the list and tap on Your Voice.
10. Choose the device you want to connect to.
11. Tap on Next.
12. When you’re ready, tap on Begin. Alexa will prompt you to read out several lines of text.
13. When over, tap on Done.
14. Alexa should now recognize your voice and associate it with your particular Amazon account.

​When you add a second voice profile to Alexa, you’re essentially creating it for the other Adult in the Amazon Household. To create an Alexa voice profile for child accounts, you can also use these instructions.

Once done, the app will now differentiate the multiple Alexa voice profiles and use specific Amazon accounts for each voice it can recognize.

If you’ve set up multiple voice profiles in Alexa and want to delete one of them, you can do the following:

1. Open the Alexa app on your mobile device.
2. Tap on the menu button on the upper left side. It’s the three lines icon.
3. Tap on Settings.
4. Tap on Account Settings.
5. Find and tap on Recognized Voices.
6. Tap on Manage Voice Profiles.
7. Find the voice profile that you wish to delete, then tap on Delete Voice Profile.
8. The particular Alexa voice profile should now be removed from your system.

If you wish to edit one or more Alexa voice profiles, you can do the following:

1. Open the Alexa app.
2. Tap on menu icon on the upper left corner of the screen.
3. Tap on Settings.
4. From the list tap on Your Profile.
5. Tap on Edit your voice then follow the prompts.

How to Reset an Alexa Voice Profile

To reset an Alexa voice profile, just delete your original voice profile, then create a new one. Alternatively, you can edit an existing profile to change the recognized voice in the app.

How to View All Alexa Voice Profiles

If you’ve set up multiple voice profiles in Alexa, you can see all the registered voices by doing the following:

1. Open the Alexa App.
2. Tap on the menu icon on the upper left corner of the screen.
3. Tap on Account Settings.
4. Tap on Recognized Voices. This should display all the Alexa voice profiles available. From here you can create, edit or delete them if you wish.

Alexa and Amazon Household FAQ

Here are some common questions regarding the creation of multiple Alexa and Amazon profiles.

1. Why Do I Need to Create an Amazon Household Profile?

You don’t really need to, but doing so will make profile integration convenient. Each Alexa device will need to be associated with a single Amazon account. Whenever you create an Alexa voice profile on a device, it will ask for an Amazon account to associate it with. Having an Amazon Household on that account will give all members of that household access to the device without any additional fuss.

The more smart-devices you add to your smart home network, the more complicated it will be to add separate Amazon accounts individually. Having an Amazon Household account reduces the hassle of associating individual accounts.

2. What Are the Benefits of an Amazon Household?

One of the big benefits of having an Amazon Household is being able to share content between Amazon accounts. Although an Amazon Household can only have two adults, those two adults can share a lot of things with each other:

• Amazon Prime benefits for Prime Members
  1.    Prime delivery benefits
  2.    Access to Prime Videos
  3.    Access to Prime Reading
  4.    2% Prime Reload rewards
  5.    Shared photos and albums
  6.    Free Amazon First Read books
  7.    Unlimited Audible Channels listening
  8.    Amazon Lightning deals early access
• Amazon Music
• Twitch Prime
• eBooks
• Apps
• Games

Adults can share Amazon Prime benefits, videos, music and Twitch prime to teens by simply adding them to the Household. eBooks, Apps, and Games can be shared with both teens and children.

The Amazon Household also provides a certain level of control to any teen and child accounts under them. This is a great way to monitor what your kids are accessing on their Amazon accounts.

This is in addition to making it easier to have multiple people use an Alexa device associated with an Amazon account with an Amazon Household profile.

3. What Are the Benefits of Separate Alexa Voice Profiles?

The best benefit of having separate Alexa voice profiles is getting personalized settings for each account. Everyone has particular tastes when it comes to music, news, or shopping. Creating your own profile enables Alexa to remember your personal tastes and settings and will adjust them accordingly. Alexa will automatically use the account of the person whose voice they recognize.

4. Can I Call and Message with My Alexa Voice Profile?

Yes. When an Alexa with a saved voice profile recognizes your voice, it will automatically log in to your personal account. When you’re connected to your voice profile in Alexa it will use your personal contact lists stored in the account.

Hands-free calling and messaging can be done simply by saying, “Alexa call,” followed by a contact’s name. For text messaging, all you need to do is say, “Alexa, send a message to,” then the contact’s name. You can then dictate the message which Alexa will then transcribe. To end the message, just pause and wait for Alexa to ask if you want to send the message. Reply with yes.

5. Can I Get Personalized Music Lists with My Alexa Voice Profile?

Yes. Each personal Amazon Alexa voice profile can be programmed with playlists so you can listen to your favorite songs. When Alexa recognizes your voice and log in to your personal account, personal playlists become available.

A personal Alexa voice profile eliminates the need to dig around other people’s playlists whenever you want to listen to music. Alexa remembers your listening habits along with the genre of music you like, and recommends songs accordingly. Expect tailor-made listening enjoyment when you have a personal voice profile.

6. Can I Do Personalized Shopping with My Alexa Voice Profile?

Yes. Alexa voice profiles your Amazon account, along with your shopping history, product recommendations, and payment information. This makes shopping really convenient, as items saved in your wish list, favorites, and cart carry over to your Alexa voice profile.

This also prevents people from using your Amazon account when buying items. If Alexa recognizes another voice it will change the connected account accordingly.

7. What Are Alexa Voice Profile Personalized Flash Briefings?

Flash briefings are quick overviews of current news, entertainment media, and other online content. Alexa uses your personal browsing history to give you this overview, when Alexa detects you for the first time during the day. With personalized Alexa voice profiles, it knows whether or not you’ve already heard the flash briefing or not.

All the members of your Alexa household will get their individual flash briefings based on their own personal habits.

8. Can I Use More Than One Alexa Device for One Amazon Account?

Yes. Multiple Alexa enabled devices can be set up on a single Amazon account to create a smart home network. In addition, if the Amazon account you’re using has an Amazon Household set up, the members of the household can use the device with their accounts as well.

9. Do the Children in My Amazon Household Need Separate Amazon Accounts?

No. You don’t need to set up separate Amazon accounts for children aged 12 and below. You can enter their details directly on your Amazon Household account, and use the same details when setting up their profiles in Alexa.

10. Are Alexa Voice Profiles on the Echo Dot?

As the Echo Dot is an Alexa device, Alexa’s multiple voice profile system is available on it. To set it up, register the Echo Dot on the Alexa app then proceed to creating your profiles as detailed in the instructions above.

11. Can Alexa Be Restricted to Respond to Only Profile Voices?

Although you can set up multiple voice profiles in Alexa, there is no current feature to let it respond only to registered profiles. Until Amazon decides to update the voice recognition software, the only workaround is to use the personalized voice profile feature.

When using a distinct Alexa voice profile, the device will use your own Amazon account. Any commands made by other people won’t reflect on your account. Children, for example, can’t suddenly add things to your shopping list whenever you’re using your own Alexa profile. If Alexa recognizes a voice as a registered child account, it won’t allow them to use online shopping.

As said, until Amazon updates the software, there is no direct way of ignoring unregistered voices when using Alexa.

12. Why Can’t I Set Up an Alexa Voice Profile?

If you’re experiencing an error when creating voice profiles in Alexa, there may be several reasons for it. Here are some of the most common:

• Your device isn’t Alexa compatible – Please check during device setup if the smart device you’re using is actually supported by Alexa.
• Your Alexa app is out-of-date – Please check if you have the latest version of the Alexa app. Errors when creating voice profiles in Alexa may be due to an out-of-date app.
• Software glitch – Try to force restart the Alexa app then try to run the Alexa app again.
• Incorrect Country Settings – Most voice recognition programs, Alexa included, uses different voice recognition methods depending on the regional dialect. If incorrect country settings are set, the software may not understand the commands being spoken.
• Other device interference – If there are other Alexa devices nearby, mute them to prevent interference then try the set up again.

Personalizing the Smart Home Experience

Multiple voice profiles on your Alexa device personalizes the smart home experience according to the needs of each individual member. This is a great way to increase the functionality and convenience of your Alexa device and create an adaptive smart home network.

Do you know of other ways on how to create Alexa profiles for your whole family? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.