How to Customize Amazon Alexa’s Flash Briefing

Amazon Alexa’s Flash Briefing is one of the top used features. You get a quick rundown of the latest news and weather just by saying “Alexa, play my flash briefing.” However, you may not like the default news sources. You don’t have to just deal with it. Like most Alexa features and skills, it can be customized to your needs.

Change Amazon Alexa’s Flash Briefing Sources

First, if you don’t already have Flash Briefing enabled, you can do that while you set up the sources you want to use. The easiest way is to just say, “Alexa, enable Flash Briefing,” to get started.

1. To change or edit Amazon Alexa’s Flash Briefing sources, open your Alexa app, open the menu, and go to Settings.

2. Tap “Flash Briefing.”

3. To add new sources, tap the “+” symbol next to “Add Content.”

Next, tap each source you want one at a time. When you select one, read the details about it and tap Enable if you want to add it to your daily Flash Briefing. We’ll cover more searching in just a moment.

Any source skills you add show up under the Flash Briefing section of your Alexa app.

Toggle Sources On and Off

If you want to toggle a source off for a while without removing it from your account, all you have to do is switch it to off. You can turn the source back on at any time by toggling it back on.

In the Flash Briefing section of your Alexa app, tap the switch beside the source you want to turn off. It’ll move to the Off section of the Flash Briefing window.

Reorder Flash Briefing Content

Further customize Amazon Alexa’s Flash Briefing by putting your news sources in the order you want to hear them.

Open Flash Briefing and tap Edit. Then, hold any source and drag it into the position you want.

Removing Sources

This part is a little more complicated. Honestly, Amazon could have made this easier, and hopefully, the company will in the future.

Toggling a source to off won’t remove it from your account. It’s just temporarily paused. If you want to completely remove it, you’ll have to open Flash Briefing and tap “Add Content.”

Press the search icon and type the name of the skill you want to remove. Tap the skill when it appears. Tap “Disable Skill” to remove it.

Finding Sources

This is the most difficult part of customizing Amazon Alexa’s Flash Briefing. You could scroll through the thousands of results, but who has time for that?

There are two easier methods for finding the content you want. First, if you’re using the Alexa app, use the search function within Flash Briefing. When you choose “Add Content,” you’ll see a search icon at the top right. Enter a keyword for what you’re looking for.

The second method involves using the Amazon website. Open the categories menu to the left of the search field. Select “Echo & Alexa.” Choose Alexa Skills.

Type Flash Briefing in the search field. While this doesn’t show as many results as the app does, it will give you options, such as News, Sports, and Weather to choose from. You can also simply search for the source you want from Amazon’s site versus using the app if you’d like to see more results at a glance.

Most major news outlets have created Flash Briefing skills. If you’re having trouble finding what you’re looking for, contact the source to see if they have a skill. If not, ask them if they’d be willing to create one. Showing interest will show them there’s an audience for their skill.

Other than customizing your Flash briefing, you can also learn new skills with Alexa, and you should also set up Alexa properly to avoid accidental voice purchasing.