How to customize your Echo Show home screen

💡 Need to know

• Start with Home Content. This is where you control much of what rotates across your Echo Show™ screen.
• Trim what you don't use. Turn off cards you don't care about instead of letting the home screen get crowded.
• Make the background yours. Add favorite photos, change the clock, and adjust the display for the room.
• Want your Echo Show to feel more like yours?
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An Echo Show® can display a lot more than the weather and whatever Alexa™ thinks you might want to see next. With a few changes, the home screen can focus on the things you actually care about—and spend a lot less time showing the things you don't.

At Asurion, we spend a lot of time helping people turn smart home devices into something that actually works for the way they live. Here's how we'd change up the Echo Show home screen to make things more interesting.

Start by opening Settings

How you open Settings depends on whether your Echo Show is running Alexa+ or the original Alexa experience.

With Alexa+:

1. Tap the Menu icon.
2. Tap Settings.

With original Alexa:

1. Swipe down from the top of the screen.
2. Tap Settings.

From there, the customization options available may also vary by Echo Show model.

Choose what appears on the home screen

If you're constantly swiping past things you don't care about, Home Content is where you can clean things up.

Open Settings > Home Content and look through what's currently turned on. Depending on your Echo Show, that may include weather, reminders, calendars, news, recommendations, smart home information, and other content.

There's no reason to keep everything. Turn off the cards you routinely ignore and leave more room for the information you actually check.

Make the background yours

Head to Settings > Clock & Photo Display and look through the background, clock, and photo options available on your model. If you use Amazon Photos, choose an album or collection you'd actually enjoy seeing throughout the day.

A little curation helps here. Favorite family photos usually make a much better display than years of screenshots, receipts, and accidental pictures of the floor.

If you've changed the album but the same old pictures keep appearing, our guide to fixing an Echo Show Photo Frame that isn't updating can help with the syncing side of the problem.

Pick a clock that works for the room

Under Clock & Photo Display, try the clock faces and layouts available on your model with the room in mind. A larger, simpler clock makes sense when you're usually looking from a distance, while a bedside or desk display can get away with showing more information.

Pick the one you can actually read at a glance. That's more useful than choosing the fanciest one in the menu.

Cut back on recommendations

If Alexa seems more interested in recommending things than showing what you care about, head back to Settings > Home Content and start trimming.

You don't need to switch everything off at once. Remove the categories you know you don't use, live with the changes for a day or two, then come back if the screen still feels crowded.

Adjust the screen for the room

A bright display can be great in the kitchen at noon and considerably less charming next to the bed at midnight.

Open Settings > Display and adjust the brightness or adaptive display options available on your Echo Show. Automatic brightness is useful in rooms where the lighting changes throughout the day; a manual setting may make more sense somewhere with fairly consistent light.

Can't find one of these settings?

Don't assume you're overlooking it. Your Echo Show model and whether it's running Alexa+ or the original Alexa experience can affect which menus and customization options you see.

Ask, "Alexa, check for software updates," and leave the Echo Show connected to power and Wi-Fi while it checks. Our guide to checking your Echo software version and updating Alexa can help you confirm what's installed and whether the device is current.

FAQ

How do I customize my Echo Show home screen?

Open Settings, then use Home Content to choose what appears. With Alexa+, tap Menu > Settings. With original Alexa, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap Settings.

How do I remove things from my Echo Show home screen?

Open Settings > Home Content and turn off the categories you don't want to see.

How do I put my own pictures on an Echo Show?

Open Settings > Clock & Photo Display, then choose the photo options available on your Echo Show. Amazon Photos can be used with compatible setups.

Can I change the clock on Echo Show?

Yes. Open Clock & Photo Display and choose from the clock faces and layouts available on your model.

Why do my Echo Show settings look different?

Your Echo Show model and whether it's running Alexa+ or the original Alexa experience can change which menus and customization options you see.