Whether it’s making shopping lists or converting cups to ounces, a voice assistant can help you out in ways you’ve never imagined.

But first, you have to set it up.

“When you get a new voice assistant or smart speaker, you need to download the app that goes with it,” Consumer Reports Electronics Editor Bree Fowler said. “From there, it will walk you through how to set the device up.”

Once that’s done, the possibilities are endless. You might have to enable things called “skills” for the Echo and “actions” for Google Home. Think of them as added features that make your assistant even smarter.

“You can have it tell you what the weather is or have it read your calendar for the day,” Fowler said. “You can also get the latest sports scores or even play trivia games.”

Are you ready to let your new assistant really show its stuff? High-tech add-ons include smart light bulbs, thermostats, door locks and plugs.

“If you have a smart plug, you can turn on and off whatever you happen to have plugged into it, whether it’s a lamp or, in my case, a Christmas tree,” Fowler said. “What it lets you do is get things done without having to open an app or crawl behind the couch and unplug the tree.”

Another tip from Consumer Reports: practice patience as you get to know your new assistant and what it can do.

“It’s important to remember that, you know, Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Fowler said. “You’re going to buy things to connect to it and add skills and apps, and it’s kinda something you construct over time.”

Consumer Reports says its testing shows these assistants don’t have the best sound quality when it comes to playing music. In that category, the original Amazon Echo earned a “good” rating, the Google Home, a “fair.”

The new Google Home Max, the Sonos One with Alexa built in, and the upcoming Apple Home Pod all promise to raise the bar on sound quality for home assistants.

—All Consumer Reports material Copyright 2017 Consumer Reports, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Consumer Reports is a not-for-profit organization which accepts no advertising. It has no commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site. For more information visit consumer.org.