Open the Alexa app on your iOS or Android device and find the Devices tab (circled in red below). You’ll need to have the app already set up and signed into the same account as the Echo device you’re modifying. If you haven’t done this already, install the app and make sure it and the device you’re trying to modify are registered to your Amazon account.

Within the Devices tab, you should see an option on the top left named Echo & Alexa. This is the section where you can control your Echo-branded devices, including Echo smart speakers, Echo Show smart displays, and more. It’s also where you can control the settings for your individual devices, including their assigned voice.

Within the Echo & Alexa section, you’ll see a list of all registered Echo-branded devices with their assigned names. You’ll want to find the specific device you want to modify and tap on it. In this case, I’m using a second-generation Echo Dot, which I’ve named “Study,” as an example. 

Once you’ve opened the page for the specific device you’re modifying, you’ll see its Bluetooth connections, Alarms & Timers, current status, and more, depending on the device type. We only need to focus on the gear icon in the top right of the screen (circled in red below). Tap the gear icon to enter the settings page for that specific device.

Within the Device Settings menu, you’ll need to scroll down a bit to find the option named “Alexa’s Voice.” It should be located right below “Wake Word,” which you can tap on while you’re in this menu, if you’d like to also change the wake word your Echo responds to. 

Now that we’ve made it to the Alexa’s Voice page for the device in question, you can select any of the currently available voices based on their national accent, with most countries having both a male and female option. Tapping each will play a short example of how Alexa will sound with that voice active. If you don’t like the new option, you can just select your previous choice with a second tap. Once you’ve chosen, the device you modified will continue using whichever voice you selected until you change it again.

This even easier way to toggle between voices requires the Echo device itself. Simply go to the device and say “Alexa, change your voice.” Alexa will respond by offering you a few voices to choose from. The device will play an example, ask if you’d like to select that voice or try another voice. Once you find one you like, simply confirm your choice with Alexa and you’re good to go.

Go to any of your Echo devices, or open the Alexa app and say “Alexa, introduce me to [insert name of chose celebrity from the list above here].” Alexa will switch to the “Celebrity Personality” you chose, and will explain, in their voice, what they’re capable of. 

If you’d like to continue using the voice for your Echo, you’ll be asked to confirm your purchase of the Celebrity Personality of your choice. If you confirm, $4.99 will be charged to the default payment method set up with your Amazon account for use on Echo devices.

It’s worth noting that all celebrity voices will work for most common tasks. But, Amazon warns they cannot help with “shopping, lists, reminders, or skills.” The echo will instead default back to the “Original” or “New” voice for those. 

Once you’ve set up your Celebrity Personality, you can speak to them specifically by using their wake word, “Hey, Samuel” or “Hey, Shaq,” for example. You can also enable the same celebrity voice, at no additional charge, on any other echo device tied to the same Amazon account by going to that device and saying “Alexa, enable “Hey [Samuel/Shaq/Melissa],” depending on which voice you purchased.

The vast majority of Echo devices can use any of the standard Alexa voices as well as all of the available celebrity voices. The only exceptions are the first generation Echo and Echo Dot, Alexa-enabled wearables (Echo buds, for example), and Fire TV and tablet devices. All other Echo-branded devices are compatible with the option to change their Alexa voice.

As mentioned earlier, in step 5 of the smartphone app section, you can change the Wake Word for your Alexa device to something else. At the time of writing, those options include:

• Amazon
• Computer (likely a Star Trek reference)
• Echo
• Ziggy (a Quantum Leap reference)

Note: Some older devices, like the original Echo, may have fewer options available. 

Right now, you’re limited to the nationally accented voices, seen in step 6 above, for the full range of functionality and the aforementioned trio of celebrities for everything but Shopping, lists, reminders, and Skills. 

Amazon may release additional celebrity voice packs or additional default voices in the future. 

In the meantime, you can access several skills that will allow your Echo to have varying levels of interaction with you in other famous voices, like R2D2 and Darth Vader from Star Wars, Gordon Ramsay, or Baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.