Garmin Speak Support for Alexa Routines

Important:  The Garmin Speak™ app can no longer be installed and has been replaced by the Garmin Drive™ App. To download the Garmin Drive app, visit Google Play for Android or App Store for Apple.

Garmin Speak and Garmin Speak Plus can be used to trigger an Alexa routine, however, there is an important limitation.

How do Alexa routines currently work with the Garmin Speak device?

An example of a routine configuration may be saying to your Garmin Speak device, "Alexa, I'm home" which will trigger the routine in turn activating your compatible smart home devices such as smart lights, and/or smart garage door openers. However, due to the limitation, you will not hear a response from the Garmin Speak device.  The Garmin Speak device will display a blue spinning ring as a visual indicator that it heard your request.

What is the limitation?

Amazon has not yet made available the ability for third-party devices like the Garmin Speak to support audible acknowledgement of routines or play audio associated with routines.  Because of this, the Garmin Speak device is unable to provide audible feedback that the routine was started successfully, and also cannot play audio associated with the routine, like a podcast or content from a news skill. 

Can the Garmin Speak device play audio at all when triggering an Alexa routine?

Alexa routines can be configured to play audio on specific first-party devices, like the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot.  This ability may or may not be useful depending on the way you want to use your routine.

When configuring the routine using the Alexa app, you may choose the device that Alexa will respond from.  If you select, "The device you speak to," the Garmin Speak is unable to respond due to the limitation described above.  If you select a compatible first-party device instead, like an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, audio content can and will be played on the device you select.