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How to use an Echo Show as a family calendar
Debs · 16 October 2026
The short answer
To use an Echo Show as a family calendar, link your calendar account (Google, Apple iCloud or Microsoft) in the Alexa app's settings, choose which calendars Alexa can see, and include a shared family calendar everyone adds to. Then say "Alexa, show my calendar" to see the next few days, add the calendar to the home screen where your model allows, and ask "Alexa, what's on tomorrow?" to hear it.
Plenty of families already own a family calendar screen without realising: the Echo Show on the kitchen worktop, currently used for timers, the radio and showing a slideshow of a holiday in 2019. With ten minutes of setting up it can show the family's week and read it out, which is most of what a dedicated calendar screen does.
What you need
An Echo Show (the bigger the screen, the better it works as a calendar), the Alexa app on your phone, and a calendar the whole family shares. If you're still deciding between an Echo Show and a dedicated screen, see Skylight v Echo Show 15.
- An Echo Show, ideally where the family passes in the morning.
- The Alexa app, signed in to the account the Echo uses.
- A Google, Apple iCloud or Microsoft calendar account to link.
- A shared family calendar inside that account, which everyone adds to.
The Echo Show in your kitchen is already a family calendar. It just hasn't been told what the family's doing.
Left: "Alexa, what's on tomorrow?" reads out the day. Right: "Alexa, show my calendar" shows it, and bigger Echo Shows can keep it on the home screen.
How to set up an Echo Show as a family calendar
In the Alexa app, open Settings and find Calendar (it may be under Calendar & Email). Link your Google, Apple iCloud or Microsoft account; Apple asks you to make an app-specific password. Then choose which calendars Alexa can see, and include the shared family one. On the Echo Show, say "Alexa, show my calendar", and on models with home-screen widgets, add the calendar widget so it's always on show.
The key is the shared family calendar. Make one in Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, share it with the other grown-ups, and agree that family plans go there. Alexa shows what's in the calendars it can see, nothing more, so a calendar only one parent uses makes an Echo Show that only knows about one parent. Our guide to the family wall calendar covers what it should show.
Alexa can only read out what someone has put in the calendar.
Getting school dates onto it
School is the busiest calendar in the house, and the one least likely to be in anyone's phone. You can type the term dates into the shared calendar, or add the school's calendar link if it has one. Or use something that fills the school side in for you. If the Echo Show is mostly for show, an old iPad as a family wall calendar is another way to get the same thing on the wall.
What an Echo Show can do as a family calendar
Using Alexa's built-in calendar features.
| How | Good to know | |
|---|---|---|
| See the calendar | "Alexa, show my calendar" | Shows the next few days |
| Hear the day | "Alexa, what's on tomorrow?" | Reads the calendars you linked |
| Add an event | "Alexa, add swimming on Thursday at 5" | Goes in the calendar you choose |
| Always on screen | The calendar widget, on models that have widgets | Bigger screens show more |
Mistakes we've all made
- Linking one parent's work calendar, so the kitchen announces "budget meeting" every morning.
- Never making a shared family calendar, so Alexa only knows one person's plans.
- Forgetting that anyone in the kitchen can ask Alexa what's on, including visitors.
- Leaving it on the photo slideshow, so nobody ever sees the calendar.
Debs on your Echo Show
Debs, your own school admin assistant, has an Alexa skill called "our Debs". Link it in Debs's Settings, then say "Alexa, ask our Debs to show the calendar" and your Echo Show shows the family's day: a live clock, the school-run weather, a column for each child with what to wear, what's on, what to bring and their stars, and who's doing each drop-off and pick-up. From 6pm it shows tomorrow. Or ask "Alexa, ask our Debs what we've got on tomorrow". Because Debs reads the school's emails and letters, the school side is filled in by itself. See everything Debs can do.
Questions parents ask
Can an Echo Show be a family calendar?
Yes. Link your Google, Apple iCloud or Microsoft calendar in the Alexa app, include a shared family calendar, and say "Alexa, show my calendar" to see it.
Does the Echo Show have a calendar?
Yes. Echo Show devices can show the calendars you link in the Alexa app, read your events out and add new ones by voice.
Can an Echo Show display Google Calendar?
Yes. Link your Google account in the Alexa app's calendar settings and choose which Google calendars Alexa can see.
Can I keep the calendar on the Echo Show's screen?
On models with home-screen widgets, such as the Echo Show 15, you can add a calendar widget. On others, ask "Alexa, show my calendar".
How do I get school dates on my Echo Show?
Put them in a calendar Alexa can see: type them in, add the school's calendar link, or use an app like Debs, which reads the school's emails and has its own Echo Show calendar.