Amazon introduced calling and messaging to its Echo speakers back in May then implemented the same feature inside the Alexa app so you could start a call or receive one from your phone, without having to be near your Echo. However, the feature had one main limitation: the person you were calling had to have an Echo or at least Alexa calling set up. Calls to phone numbers weren't possible, but now they are.Amazon secretly enabled the option a couple of days ago and has now officially added it to the Alexa app changelog. After setting up Alexa calling and messaging in the app's Conversations tab, you can say something like, "Call dad's phone," or, "Call dad's mobile phone number," and it will perform a call to the phone number. Your dad will see the number associated with your Amazon account or an "unknown caller" if you decide to opt out of showing your number. You can also call a specific number if you don't have the contact in your address book, by saying, "Call 123456789."The function is live for phone numbers in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It works on Echo devices (Echo, Echo Show, Echo Plus, Echo Dot, Echo Spot, but not on the Echo Tap seemingly) as well as through the Alexa app which was updated to add the function.

You can still perform an Alexa-to-Alexa call like you used to, either by saying, "Call dad," or, "Call dad's Echo." This way, the call is routed to their Echo device or Alexa app if it's connected to their phone number. That functionality is now expanding to more countries. Users in the UK, Germany, and Austria can get it on the Alexa calling and messaging fun.

The Alexa app in the Play Store was updated with a different changelog in the UK. The same should be true in Germany and Austria.

Source: Amazon, The Verge