If you have an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, Echo Plus or any other Alexa device without a screen, as well as a Fire Tablet, you can get a lot of the functionality of the Echo Show and Echo Spot by using Voicecast.
Voicecast is a little known feature that allows you to link your Alexa device to your Fire Tablet to easily view content. You can ask Alexa to send more information about news, weather, traffic, music and more to your Fire Tablet, and a card will automatically display on the screen. What’s more, you can enable automatic Voicecast, so available cards automatically display on your Fire Tablet screen*.
Here’s how to set it up:
1- On your Fire Tablet running Fire OS 4.5.1 or later, open the Alexa app
2- Tap the menu icon and then tap Settings
3- Select Voicecast
4- Flip the switch to on
5- Optional – Flip the Automatic Voicecast switch to on*
Once Voicecast is enabled, you can use the commands “Show this on my Fire Tablet” or “Send this to {device name}.
Currently this only works from an Alexa device to a Fire Tablet (not in reverse or from tablet to tablet), and it is compatible with music, Wikipedia, questions and answers, flash briefings, lists, weather, timers, alarms and help.
*Note: In testing I found that enabling automatic Voicecast is incredibly cool, but a massive drain on the tablet’s battery. I tested this with a brand new Fire HD8 and found that any time I left the tablet disconnected from power, it would be dead the next time I tried to use it. I highly advise using this feature only if you plan to leave your tablet plugged in.
