Amazon is making its multiroom audio platform extra handy to regulate along with your cellphone. A current replace to the Alexa cellular app launched a brand new functionality that lets customers handle and transfer their music between Echo units (or teams of a number of audio system) throughout the app itself. (Beforehand, you wanted to make use of voice instructions to carry out a few of these actions.)

Now, it’s all doable by a menu that allows you to transfer music to any group or Alexa machine with a few faucets — no speaking crucial. In our temporary time attempting it to this point, it’s fairly intuitive, and anybody that’s managed music through AirPlay or Spotify Join shouldn’t have a lot bother figuring this out. Amazon’s present lineup of Echo audio system contains the usual Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Dot with Clock, Echo Studio, and elective Echo Sub subwoofer. You possibly can play audio throughout Echo Present and Fireplace TV units by the Alexa app as effectively.

Amazon has additionally developed a brand new overview display for the Alexa app that it calls the Lively Media Checklist. This may be accessed every time audio is enjoying in your system and exhibits what’s enjoying the place and allows you to management a number of merchandise from a single record. The interface will look extraordinarily acquainted to Sonos clients — a lot in order that the latter firm would possibly take discover.

Sonos is locked in a patents battle with Google; a trial between the 2 kicks off Could eighth in San Francisco. However whereas Sonos has beforehand alleged that Amazon can be violating its mental property, it hasn’t fired any authorized salvos but. Actually, the 2 corporations appear to be on good phrases these days, having simply expanded Alexa voice assist on Sonos units to many extra nations. And you may run Sonos Voice Management and Alexa facet by facet on the identical speaker. However there are limits to this collaboration: you may’t embody Sonos and Echo audio system in the identical group for multiroom audio, for instance.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence lately claimed that his firm’s Massive Tech rivals (Amazon included) aren’t “doing something attention-grabbing” in audio of late. Amazon has been pretty quiet when it comes to new Echo audio system, sure, however this Alexa app replace is a pleasant enchancment that brings extra refinement and polish to the corporate’s multiroom providing.

The Alexa app is a free obtain for each Android and iOS.