Alexa Announcements come to ecobee thermostats and light switches

Alexa Announcements is coming to a wall near you.

The feature, which allows users to broadcast a message to Announcement-compatible devices, thrives with more devices. The ecobee 4 smart thermostat and the ecobee Switch+ smart light switch will both support Announcements.

Users can start an Announcement from any Alexa-enable speaker that supports the feature. Additionally, users can send an Announcement using their phone.

Because the Announcements feature benefits from being connected to a larger number of devices, it’s a great addition to ecobee products. Unfortunately it isn’t always feasible to have a smart speaker in every room. Announcements on ecobee reduces that need.

Ecobee was among the first third-party Alexa partners to support Announcements. However, the Toronto-based company wasn’t the only supporter.

Sonos’ Alexa-enabled speakers are getting access to Announcements as well. Both the Sonos One and Beam will support the feature.

Only Amazon Echo devices supported the Announcements feature until now.

Google Home offers a similar feature called Broadcast. However, Google’s feature doesn’t work with third-party speakers. Instead it requires a Google Home speaker and/or a smartphone with Google Assistant.