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Alexa can now help you find your remote. Here's how
What's more annoying than digging through the couch cushions trying to find a lost remote? Not much, right?
ZDNET Recommends
Well, if you use a Fire TV, Amazon's new $35 Alexa Voice Remote Pro remote fixes that.
On a more serious note, the new Alexa Voice Remote Pro looks great.
It has a remote finding feature built-in that allows you to ask Alexa to "find my remote," which will trigger an audible alert on the remote to help you locate it.
While the remote finding feature is handy, it's probably not something you're going to use daily. But a bigger quality of life improvement has to be the fact that the buttons on the remote are backlit, so you can see them in the dark and easily know when the remote is upside down, instead of having to figure it out after you hit the wrong button. (Don't tell me I'm the only person who does that!)
Also: The 12 best Echo speakers
Other new features include two programmable buttons that you can set as shortcuts to apps, channels, or Alexa commands. There's also a dedicated headphones button that lets you quickly pair the remote with your wireless headphones for private listening.
According to the Amazon listing, the new Alexa Voice Remote Pro won't work with the following Fire TV devices:
- Fire TV (1st and 2nd Gen)
- Fire TV Stick (1st Gen)
- Element Fire TV Edition
- Insignia HD or Insignia FHD
- Hisense U6HF 4K ULED Fire TV Series
If you have any Fire TV device not on that list, then you're good to go.
Also: Amazon Fire TV Stick: What it is and how to use it
You can order the Alexa Voice Remote Pro for $35 right now directly from Amazon.