Ask My Buddy and Alexa Can Summon Help in an Emergency

Alert Your Personal Emergency Network
Using Only Your Voice,
 with Alexa and Ask My Buddy

Turn Your Smart Speaker into an Emergency Alert Device

Alexa and other Smart Home technologies can make life a lot easier for people who live alone, people who have disabilities, and a lot of older people.   Smart Home technologies and Smart Speakers can automate a lot of tasks, and make physical tasks simpler for those with physical limitations.  Smart speakers and other assistive technologies can help a person continue to live independently, in his or her own home, for a longer time. But what these technologies cannot yet do is to call 911.  Wouldn't it be great if Smart Speakers, like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, could summon help when an individual needs it?  Well, now they can, thanks to a service called "AskMyBuddy.net."

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

Most of us have seen the commercials. A senior citizen is in distress, but s/he cannot get to a telephone to summon help.  However, the individual wears a pendant, and by pressing a button, s/he can summon assistance from a personal emergency alert network.  And although these devices are marketed to seniors, I know a few women and people with disabilities who live alone and wish they had this "yell for help" capability, but they do not want another monthly expense, especially when they figure they will not use it often. Many people in this category have Alexa or a similar Smart Speaker.    However, despite the fact Alexa has limited calling abilities, she cannot dial 911, no matter how many times you ask her to.  Wouldn't it be nice if Alexa could summon emergency help with a voice command?

Enter "AskMyBuddy.Net."  Ask My Buddy is a free service that can summon emergency help with a voice command.  Rather than using 911, AskMyBuddy summons help from a pre-selected group of emergency contacts via voice call, text, and/or e-mail.  

What is Ask My Buddy?

Ask My Buddy is a Smart Home Skill, as well as a website app.  If you have fallen, or need help, Ask My Buddy is designed to immediately alert friends and family that you have an urgent need.  If you experience an emergency, all you need to do is say "Alexa, ask my buddy to send help," and Ask My Buddy will immediately alert your designated contacts.

How Do I Use Ask My Buddy?

To use  Ask My Buddy, first you must set up an account at AskMyBuddy.net. Then, you must enable the Ask My Buddy Skill in the Alexa app, and link your accounts.  Next, you add a set of designated Emergency Contacts.  You may name up to 5 Emergency Contacts, and for each of these, you may designate up to three contact methods: voice call, Text Message, and/or e-mail address.  When you Ask My Buddy to call for help, it will immediately send a message to EACH of the contact methods listed for EACH contact.

Say, for example, you add Mom, Dad, and Hubby as Ask My Buddy contacts.  For Mom, you designate a voice call number, for Dad, you list an e-mail address, and for Hubby, you list voice call, e-mail, and text numbers.  A week later, you slip and fall while putting away groceries.  You cannot reach a phone to call for help, so instead, you yell "Alexa, ask my buddy to send help!"  The service will ring Mom, text Dad, and call, text, and e-mail hubby with the following message:

Your Name Sent you an alert via AskMyBuddy.net, on Amazon Echo.  This alert is sent only if this person has asked for help.  Please check on them now.  Once again, please check on Your Name, now! Thank you.

When hubby, Mom, and Dad receive this message, they will ALL know you are in distress, and they need to call 911 for you.

Now of course, you should let your emergency contacts know about Ask My Buddy and that you have added them to your emergency network, well in advance of when the system sends its first message.  That way, your contacts will know exactly what is expected of them when they receive an alert. Ask My Buddy recommends you send a "test" alert after first setting up your contacts, so you are sure things will work, as expected, when an actual emergency arises.  

You may also Ask My Buddy to alert [name] if you only want a single designee contacted. For example, if you say "Alexa, ask my buddy to call Mom," it will only attempt to contact Mom via voice call. If you say "Alexa, ask my buddy to alert Hubby," then only Hubby will get his call, text, and e-mail.

Are There Limitations on How Many Alerts I can Send?

Of course, there are limitations on the free plan.   For free accounts, a combined total of 10 Voice and or text messages (SMS) may be sent in any 30 day period.  Ask My Buddy explains it like this:

 If you have 3 contacts with both Text and Voice numbers and a message is sent to all contacts (Everybody or Everyone), then 6 messages are used. If you have 3 contacts but only have Voice numbers and you alert all of them then only 3 messages are used. If all text/voice messages have been used, you will be notified by Alexa and an email will be sent stating that the final message was sent but further messages will not. Return messages are not received by Alexa, or the Ask My Buddy system. 

This will be sufficient for most users, but of course, if you find yourself needing more alerts than the free plan accommodates, you may upgrade to a paid plan.  These paid plans are still a lot lower cost than a typical Emergency Alert Device system.  

For $3.66 monthly or $43.92 annually, you'll receive:

1. 120 messages per month.
2. 5 Additional Contacts for a total of 10
3. Disable Alert All. This checkbox located at the bottom of the Settings Page. Use this if Alexa misunderstands you and defaults to Alert All. Send Help and Alert Everyone will still work.
4. Multi lingual Alerts: Spanish, French, Swedish, German, Portuguese and Italian.

For $5 monthly or $60 annually, you'll get:

1. 400 messages per month.
2. 5 Additional Contacts for a total of 10
3. Disable Alert All. This checkbox located at the bottom of the Settings Page, Use this if Alexa misunderstands you and defaults to Alert All. Send Help and Alert Everyone will still work.
4. Multi lingual Alerts: Spanish, French, Swedish, German, Portuguese and Italian.
5. Find My Phone, places a voice call to the Cell Phone listed in your account settings. Make sure that your cell phone number is entered in the Settings page and just say; 'Alexa, Ask My Buddy to alert my cell phone'. 

If you upgrade to a paid plan, and that plan expires, your account will revert back to a free plan.

With What Devices is Ask My Buddy Compatible?

Ask My Buddy works with ALL Alexa-enabled devices, including the Amazon Dash Wand and Fire TV.  It also works with Google Home Smart Speakers and with Windows Cortana.  Ask My Buddy provides a Quick Start Guide for each platform that will walk you through set up, account linking, and adding contacts.

Where Do I Sign Up?

Go to http://askmybuddy.net/ to sign up for a free account.  Once you have registered, open the Alexa app, go to the skills section, search for "Ask My Buddy," and enable the skill. You will need your Ask My Buddy username and password to link your account with Alexa.  Once you have added your contacts, you are ready to start summoning emergency help immediately.

Summary

Smart Speakers, like the Alexa-powered Amazon Echo, can be great devices for seniors and folks with disabilities to own.  They can make daily living activities much easier to handle. But wouldn't it be nice if these Smart Speakers could also summon help for us in an emergency?  Well, now they can, if you use the Ask My Buddy skill. Ask My Buddy will summon a set of designated emergency contacts with a single voice command, adding safety and security functions to our Smart Home hubs.

As a disabled woman who lives alone, this added function brings me great peace of mind.  In the past, I had contemplated purchasing a stand-alone emergency alert system, but could not justify the $30+ subscription fees per month for something I might never use.  Knowing I can add this capability to Alexa for free is wonderful.  And knowing I can upgrade the service if I find myself using it frequently, and get the level of service I could expect from a stand alone device for less than a dollar a day, also thrills me.  I use Alexa hundreds of times a day; using it for emergencies is a natural extension of how I already use my Echo.  And as I age, having this in my life will help me evaluate if and when I need to upgrade to a stand-alone alert system.

Having aging parents with their own sets of issues, Ask My Buddy brings me peace of mind when it comes to them as well.  I will worry less about my disabled Mom being home alone, knowing that if something happens, she can summon her family with a voice command, and even the family members who have not yet adopted Alexa.  And with text and e-mail notifications, she can summon me in an emergency, even if I am not at home.  I am looking forward to feeling safer in my own house, thanks to Ask My Buddy and Alexa.

What do you think about Ask My Buddy? Do you think you will use it, or perhaps help family members to sign up for the service?  Hit us up in the comment section and let us know your thoughts. And as always, thanks for reading.