Alexa Together Lets You Monitor Your Grandparents

If you're looking for a way to be a Big Brother to your grandparent or elderly friend, Alexa Together may be the key. Amazon will provide a series of services and features that'll allow you to use your Amazon Echo, Alexa, and a variety of other devices to keep an eye on your relative or friend. It's sort of like a baby monitor, but far, far more advanced.

Before now, Amazon had Care Hub. Care Hub worked with Care alerts and easy ways for users to connect with one another. The Alexa Together system is "a new service designed to help aging family members feel more comfortable and confident living independently." This new system works with an Urgent Response feature (for any-time access to "a professional emergency helpline) and connectivity with third-party devices, too.

Alexa Together allows users to "set reminders" for the monitored individual. They can use Remote Assist to link to a music service and play music for the monitored individual. At the core of the service is communication – so it makes simple the process of calling friends and family, and for friends and family to call the monitored individual.

Alexa Together will cost approximately $20 USD per month, and new users will be able to try the service with a 6-month free trial. There'll be a free one-year trial available for existing Care Hub customers. Alexa Together will be released "later this year."