If you want more than one person to use the same Alexa-enabled device, you can add multiple accounts by setting up an Amazon Household. Family members must have their own Amazon account, but once you’ve set up everything, you can jump from one account to another just by talking to Alexa.
With an Amazon Household, you and other members of the family can share the benefits of an Amazon Prime account, including access to Kindle ebooks and other digital content from Amazon on the web. For our purposes here, you can also grant certain people access to your home’s Echo devices and Alexa.
An Amazon Household can include up to two adults 18 years of age or older (this includes yourself), four teenagers 13-17 years old, and four children aged 12 and under. Children can use your Echo through a feature called Amazon Kids. Teenagers are able to order products on the web and stream video, but they won’t have access to your Echo or Alexa directly through their personal profiles.
Add Adult to Amazon Household
Head over to the Amazon Household website and sign in with your Amazon account. To add another adult, click Add Adult. Confirm your country and then type the name and email address of the adult with whom you want to create and share your Amazon Household.
Confirm that you want to share your Amazon Wallet as proof that you both live in the same household. Then check or uncheck the items you want to share with the other adult, including apps and games, audiobooks, and ebooks. Click Continue.
Confirm the person’s name and email address and click the Send Invite button to send them an invitation to create and join your Amazon Household. The person will receive the invitation email and can then click the Get Started button in the email.
At the Amazon website, they must click Continue to accept the invitation. They must also agree to share their digital wallet and then check or uncheck the items they want to share from their library. Your Amazon Household screen then shows the other adult as part of your household.
Add Teens to Amazon Household
You can’t give a teenager access to your Echo under their own profile, but you can add them to your household to grant them certain Amazon shopping and video streaming abilities. From Your Amazon Household page, click Add a Teen.
The next screen explains what a teen can do with the account. Scroll down the page and click the Get Started button. At the next screen, add the teen’s name and birthday. Click Continue.
Under the Amazon Teen program, teenagers can shop online on their own, but you approve their purchases. You can determine how to proceed—Review and approve all orders; Automatically approve orders up to a certain amount; or Automatically approve all orders.
The final setup requires you to enter your teen’s phone number or email address, which sends them a link. They must click on the Create your profile button in the invitation email to set up a profile with their name, email address or phone number, and a password.
At the account creation screen, they must enter their name, phone number, and a password and then click Continue. They’re also asked to enter a one-time password, which is then texted to their phone to finally create their Amazon account. Refresh the Amazon Household page to see the teenager listed.
Add Children to Amazon Household
From the Amazon Household page, click Add a child. A pop-up window opens for you to enter the child’s name, gender, and birthday, then choose a profile icon. Your Amazon Households page shows the name of the child you added.
You now need to set up Amazon Kids in order to give the child access to a specific Alexa-enabled device. In the Alexa app, tap Devices > Echo & Alexa and select the Echo to which you want to add the child. Under Device Settings, tap Amazon Kids.
Turn on the switch to enable Amazon Kids, and a screen pops up to explain the feature. Tap Setup Amazon Kids to continue. Select the child that you added to your Amazon Household and then click Continue. You can also add a different child here.
At the next screen, click Continue to give Amazon permission to collect certain information from the listed profiles. Sign into and authenticate your Amazon account and then click I Agree to give parental consent for the child’s account. Read the Amazon Kids screen and then click Continue.
Amazon displays a screen for Amazon Kids for Alexa to explain which features have been enabled. Click Continue. At the next screen, keep swiping to the left to explore the different features.
After you set up access for the child, your Echo automatically switches to their account. You can now manage the child’s profile settings at the Amazon Parent Dashboard, where you can then view all the interactions the child has with your Echo.
Click the gear icon to access Settings and modify certain options for the child, such as content, daily time limits, and age filters.
Switch Between Adult and Child Accounts
If you wish to switch from one adult account to another, just say “Alexa, switch to [name of adult’s] account,” and that person’s account is now in charge. You can’t ask Alexa to switch between a child account and an adult account.
Instead, you must turn on Amazon Kids to switch from an adult account to a child account and turn it off to move back to an adult account. You can turn Amazon Kids on and off through the Alexa app by returning to the screen where you first set up the feature.
When Amazon Kids is turned off, the Echo will revert to the last adult who used the device. If you forget which account is active, ask “Alexa, which account is this?” and Alexa identifies the current account.
