How-To

How to Fix Alexa Reminders Not Working

By Adam Davidson

Published December 6, 2023

Has Alexa stopped giving you reminders? Here’s what to try if you’re having problems with Alexa reminders not working.

Alexa devices can do much more than tell you about the weather. You can control your smart home, play music, view your security cameras, or even create an intruder alert. One of the most useful features is the ability to create reminders. You can set up reminders that fire at a certain date and time or have reminders that fire when you arrive at or leave a specific location. Sometimes, however, you may find that your reminders aren’t working as you would expect. Here’s what to try if you’re having issues with Alexa reminders not working.

Check the Volume on your Alexa Device

One of the simplest reasons that you’re not hearing reminders on your Alexa device is because the volume is turned down too far. If the volume on your device is muted or set very low, then you may not hear any audible reminders even if they are being announced correctly.

You can adjust the volume in several ways. You can use the volume buttons on your Alexa device itself, you can ask Alexa to turn up the volume, or you can adjust the volume in the Alexa app. Once the volume has been increased, test another reminder to see if you get the correct notification. If you can hear the reminder, but the audio sounds muffled, there are some fixes you can try.

Check Your Internet Connection

If your Alexa device is not connected to the internet, this may also cause problems with Alexa reminders not working. Alexa may not be able to create reminders or play reminders at the required time if there is no internet connection. In the Alexa app, you can see which network your device is connected to. You can then test this connection on another device, to see whether there is a general problem with your internet connection.

1. Launch the Alexa app.
2. At the bottom of the screen, select Devices.
   
3. Tap Echo & Alexa.
   
4. Choose an Echo device.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the screen, and you’ll see the currently connected Wi-Fi network.
   
6. Connect your phone or computer to the same network and make a web search to see if your Wi-Fi network is working as expected.
7. If the internet connection is causing problems on your other devices too, try restarting your router.

Restart Your Alexa Device

If things go wrong with an Alexa device, they can often be fixed simply by restarting the device. This is often enough to clear whatever issue was causing the errors in the first place and get everything back on track again. If Alexa reminders aren’t working, try restarting your Alexa device to see if this fixes things.

1. Unplug your Alexa device.
2. Wait for about 30 seconds.
3. Plug your Alexa device back in.
4. Once the device has restarted, test out your reminders again to see if they’re working.

Check the Time Settings for Your Alexa Device

If you’ve set a reminder for a specific time and it’s not being announced at the time you expect, it may be because the time settings for your Alexa device don’t match your location. By default, Alexa will match the time zone set for your phone, but it’s possible to set specific time zones for each Alexa device you have. If these don’t match the current time zone for your location, your reminders will not fire when you expect them to. You can check the current time zone for an Echo device in the device settings on the Alexa app.

1. Open the Alexa app.
2. Tap Devices.
   
3. Select Echo & Alexa.
   
4. Choose one of your Alexa devices from the list.
5. Tap the Settings icon in the top right of the screen.
   
6. Scroll down and tap Time Zone.
   
7. If the current time zone is incorrect, select one of the alternative options.
   
8. If the time zone you need isn’t shown, tap Change.
   
9. Select a different geographical region and tap Done.
   
10. Choose the correct time zone from the options for that region.
11. To apply the same time zone settings to your other Echo devices, tap Sync.
    
12. Select the devices that you want to sync to the new time zone.
13. Tap Save and your selected devices will sync to the current device’s time zone.

Check Your Notification Settings

Another reason why your Alexa reminders may not be working is because of your notification settings. These settings allow you to choose how your notifications are delivered, including which Alexa devices they are announced on. If these settings are incorrect, your Alexa device may not announce your reminder or other notifications. You can change your notification settings in the app.

1. Open the Alexa app.
2. Tap the More tab at the bottom of the screen.
   
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Scroll down and select Notifications.
   
5. Swipe down and tap Reminders.
   
6. To change the reminder alert volume, tap Set Alert Volume.
   
7. To change device that announces the reminder, tap Announce on Devices.
   
8. Select Spoken-to Device or choose a group of devices.
   
9. You can also toggle Send Notifications to My Phone to receive reminder notifications on your phone as well as your Alexa device.
   

Try Creating a New Reminder

If everything seems to be set up ok, but your reminder still isn’t coming through, you can try deleting your reminder and setting up your reminder again.

1. Launch the Alexa app.
2. Tap More.
   
3. Select Reminders.
   
4. Swipe left on the reminder that you want to delete.
5. Tap the Delete button.
   
6. Once the reminder has been deleted, tap Add Reminder.
   
7. Enter what you want Alexa to remind you and choose whether to be reminded at a time or a location.
   
8. For a time-based reminder, select the Announces From device, the Date and Time for the reminder, and whether or not the reminder will Repeat.
   
9. For location-based reminders, add a location by tapping Add Location, tap When This Phone to select whether the reminder fires when you arrive at or leave the location, if the reminder will Repeat and whether it will only fire on a specific date.
   
10. Tap Save and try out your reminder again.

Update the Alexa App

If you still can’t get your Alexa reminders to work, you can try updating the Alexa app. The updated version of the app may fix the problems you’re having with your reminders not working correctly.

1. Open the app store on your phone.
2. Search for the Alexa app.
   
3. Choose the Alexa app from the search results.
4. If there is an Update button, tap it to update the app.
5. If there is an Open button, the app is already up to date.
   

Reset Your Alexa Device

As a last resort, you can try resetting your Alexa device back to the original factory settings. This may fix your issue, but it also means you’ll need to set everything back up again from scratch, including any connected skills or smart home devices. That’s why you should only try this option when you’ve exhausted all the others.

1. For a first-generation Echo device, use a paper clip to press the Reset button on the device.
2. With a second-generation Echo device, press and hold the Microphone Off and Volume Down buttons for 20 seconds.
3. For a third-generation Echo device, press and hold the Action button for 20 seconds.
4. The light ring will turn off and back on again.
5. Your device is now in setup mode. You can now set up your Alexa device once more.

Get Alexa Reminders Back on Track

If you’re having issues with Alexa reminders not working, hopefully one of the fixes above has worked for you. If you find any other ways to get Alexa reminders back working again, please let us know in the comments.

Reminders are one of the most useful features on Alexa, allowing you to get reminders based on the current time, or your current location. And if you need to create multiple reminders, you can use Alexa Follow-Up Mode to add several at once without having to keep saying “Alexa” over and over.