You send an Alexa announcement to “everywhere” from the kitchen Echo, and only three of your five Echos actually play it. The other two are online, respond to voice commands, and show green on the Alexa app, but they silently drop broadcasts. This is one of the most reported Echo issues on the Amazon community forum and one of the least documented in the official support pages. The fix is almost never a factory reset. This guide walks through the actual causes and the order to test them in.
Why announcements skip some devices when the device is otherwise fine
Alexa Announcements ride a different message path than voice commands. Commands are one-to-one and use the Alexa cloud’s normal API. Announcements are one-to-many and use a group-broadcast service that requires every target Echo to be enrolled in a compatible Communication profile AND to have the current household’s speech ID cached. If either fails, the broadcast silently drops for that device.
The three most common causes, in order of how often we see them:
- The Echo is on a different account (or subprofile) than the one initiating the announcement. Kid Profile Echos, work-profile Echos, and Echos added by a household member with a different Amazon login all get filtered from broadcasts by default.
- The Echo’s Communication permission is toggled off for either its own account or for household broadcast. This can flip by itself after a firmware update.
- The Echo’s Do Not Disturb schedule silently intercepts the announcement without any visible indicator.
The diagnostic sequence in order
Do these in this order. Skipping ahead wastes time on the wrong layer.
- Open the Alexa app, go to Communicate at the bottom, then the little person icon at top right. Confirm the profile you are using is your primary household account.
- Tap Devices at the bottom, then the specific Echo that is not receiving announcements. Scroll to Communications and confirm the toggle is on. If off, turn it on and wait 60 seconds before testing.
- On the same device screen, check Do Not Disturb. If it is on OR if it is scheduled to be on right now (evening quiet hours are a common trap), announcements will be silently blocked. Turn it off temporarily and re-test.
- Confirm the account that owns the Echo. On the same device screen, look at “Registered to” at the top. If it is a different Amazon email than yours, the Echo is on a household member’s account and needs to be added to the shared household from Settings, Amazon Household.
- Finally, on the sending Echo, say: “Alexa, announce test.” A broadcast should fire to every eligible target. If some are still silent, the target is in a different Communication service group.
The household household trap
Amazon Household lets two adults share Prime and Kindle books but it does NOT automatically share Alexa devices. Each Echo is registered to exactly one account. Adding your spouse to your household lets them talk to your Echos, but their Echos remain on their account and are NOT default announcement targets.
To make everyone’s Echos participate in announcements, you have to either move all Echos to a single Amazon account (which loses per-person voice recognition data) or explicitly build a shared Communication group under Alexa app, Communicate, Contacts, Groups, Create. Then send the announcement to that named group instead of using “everywhere.”
The Do Not Disturb schedule you forgot you set
Alexa’s Do Not Disturb has three settings that all matter and all interact:
| Setting | Where it lives | What it silences |
|---|---|---|
| Do Not Disturb (per-device toggle) | Devices, tap Echo, DND | All notifications, calls, messages, announcements |
| Scheduled Do Not Disturb | Same screen, tap DND | Same as above, on a time window |
| Communications block (household level) | Communicate, top-right, Settings, Communications | Calls and messages, not announcements |
The scheduled variant is the trap. Many owners set 10 pm to 7 am DND during initial setup and never revisit it. An announcement sent at 6:45 am silently drops on every Echo set to that schedule. The Alexa app shows no indicator that the message was blocked.
When the firmware itself is the culprit
Amazon pushed a firmware in April 2026 (build 7.6.2.x on 4th-gen Echos, 8.0.1.x on Echo Show 10 and 15) that had a race condition in the Communication cache reload. Devices that upgraded during a moment of poor Wi-Fi connectivity could end up with a corrupted broadcast profile. The symptom: the affected Echo receives calls and messages fine but never plays an announcement. The fix is a manual reboot from the Alexa app, not a factory reset. In the app, go to the device, Reset, and choose “Reboot” rather than “Reset to factory.” A reboot forces the profile to reload and clears the bad cache. If reboot does not restore announcements within 15 minutes, then a factory reset is warranted.
Frequently asked questions
Do Echo Dots for Kids receive household announcements? No, by design. Kid profiles are excluded from broadcast to prevent unfiltered adult-to-child messages. Amazon has not exposed an override.
Will an Echo receive an announcement if its microphone is muted? Yes. The mic-mute button disables the microphone, not the speaker. Announcements still play at the current volume.
Can I send announcements from my phone? Yes. In the Alexa app, Communicate, Announce, type or dictate the message, and it broadcasts to every eligible Echo on your account.
Why does the volume differ between Echos for the same announcement? Each Echo plays at its own current volume level. There is no global broadcast volume. Set a bedtime routine that sets all Echos to the same volume if you need consistency.
Do Sonos speakers that show as Alexa endpoints receive announcements? No. Sonos with Alexa is a voice control integration, not a full Echo. Announcements only reach genuine Echo devices.
Do Amazon Fire tablets configured as Show Mode receive announcements? Yes, if Show Mode is active and the tablet is registered to the same Amazon account. If Show Mode is off, the tablet is idle and does not receive broadcasts.
Can I mute one specific Echo from receiving announcements without affecting other features? Yes. Alexa app, Devices, tap the Echo, Communications, turn off “Announcements” specifically. The device still receives calls, drops in, and voice control.
How long is the maximum announcement message? Around 30 seconds of speech, which is roughly 70-90 words. Longer messages get truncated silently. Break long announcements into two calls if needed.
