How to Set Up Alexa Flash Briefing for Daily News
Alexa's Flash Briefing reads you a personalized news summary every morning — say "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?" to hear it.
Open Flash Briefing settings in the Alexa app
~15sAdd news sources
~25sQuick Tip
Search for your city name plus "news" to find local news stations available as Alexa skills. Having a local source is great for school closings, traffic, and weather specific to your area.
Arrange sources in your preferred order
~17sSet up an automatic morning routine (optional)
~19sYou Did It!
You've completed: How to Set Up Alexa Flash Briefing for Daily News
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If you start your morning by asking Alexa what the news is, a Flash Briefing is worth setting up. It is a customized audio newscast made up of short clips from the sources you choose — instead of a generic headline, you hear a two-minute update from NPR, then a sports score, then a local weather forecast. The whole thing takes two to five minutes and plays in the order you choose.
Setting up a Flash Briefing takes about five minutes in the Alexa app on your phone.
Open the Alexa app. Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the bottom right of the screen or tap "More." Go to Settings, then scroll down to find "Flash Briefing." This is the control center for your daily briefing — you can add sources here.
The source library includes dozens of options: NPR News (available in both short and longer formats), BBC World Service, The Associated Press, CNN, Fox News, ABC News, local news stations (available for many cities), sports highlights from ESPN, stock market updates, tech news, and more. Each source is an Alexa Skill — tap the + button or "Enable" to add it. You will be taken to the skill's page where you confirm the addition.
Once sources are added, you can drag them into a preferred order. What you add first plays first in your briefing. A good starting order: weather for your area, local news, then national news, then anything else you are interested in. Keep the total number of sources around five to seven — more than that makes the briefing feel too long.
To hear your briefing any time, say "Alexa, what's my Flash Briefing?" or "Alexa, play my Flash Briefing." You do not have to wait until morning.
To make the briefing play automatically at a set time, set up an Alexa Routine. Go to the Alexa app, tap More > Routines > Add Routine, set the trigger as a time (for example, 7:00 AM), and add Flash Briefing as the action. Now it plays every morning without you having to ask.
Quick Tip: the difference between Flash Briefing and asking "Alexa, what's in the news?" — Flash Briefing plays pre-recorded audio clips from actual broadcasters. The regular news question gives you a brief AI-generated summary. Most people find the Flash Briefing more interesting because it includes real broadcast voices.
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