Eventually, Amazon will allow developers to deliver Alexa push notifications to their device. It is only a matter of time. This change, while seemingly subtle, will unleash an avalanche of innovations. Parents, imagine you are sitting in your kitchen and suddenly you get a report that your child’s bus will be at the drop off point in 3 minutes. Imagine eliminating time spent standing outside in the cold for a bus, simply by checking a phone interface. What if you could be notified when a storm is coming in your area?
The risk for abuse is real, but it is better off in the hands of the willing. All sorts of annoying advertising services will likely pop up. But for entrepreneurs and nerds like us, this is an exciting time.
Alexa Push Notification Work Arounds
Developers from all walks of life have opined on this topic. They have hacked together some incredibly creative solutions. Here are some of them:
From the Amazon Developer Forums
There has been some brain power expended to solve this without a clean solution from Amazon. It is left up to the reader to determine which is best. The approaches are:
Option 1: Developer Forum | Video
Timing Rumors
So far, there are only whispers of this capability on the internet.
Source: theinformation.com
Official Response
Here is the official response from Amazon developer services as of 15 Nov 2016.
Question: “I am a software developer and have read that Alexa may soon support push notifications to allow Alexa to trigger a conversation with a human instead of the other way around. Is this true and if so, when is it coming?”
Answer: From Amazon, as of 19 Nov 2016
I’m not sure where you read this, but unfortunately, we have nothing to announce at this time regarding this. I’d suggest keeping an eye on our official blog for any official announcements.
