Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon is making a small tweak to the Alexa companion app on iOS and Android; in a few days you’ll no longer need to tap the blue Alexa button on your screen to say a voice command, TechCrunch reports. Unfortunately, the new “hands-free” mode apparently only works if you launch the app and continuously keep it open on your phone. For me, it won’t be very useful until I can use Alexa on my iPhone without unlocking and launching it first.
If you really want a phone that allows you to use Alexa as your phone’s voice assistant, Amazon sells a bunch of co-branded “Alexa-Built In” smartphones where it partners with Android manufacturers like OnePlus, Motorola and Sony to let you wake Alexa with just your voice. If you’re like me and don’t want…