Use Alexa on Your Android to Control Smart Home
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You can control your smart home equipment just by mere taps by installing the Alexa app on your Android device. When you install the Alexa app, you will need to set up and manage groups, use scenes, and make routines for specific smart equipment on your home.
If you want to learn how to use the Alexa app to manage a smart home, then you have come to the place. In this guide, you will learn how to use the Alexa Android app to manage and control everything in your smart home.
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By doing so, you will don’t need to access specific devices to control your home. Instead, you will be able to easily control every smart gadget in your home with your native home.
Let’s get started…
Alexa Android App: Everything You Need To Know to Get Started
In order to get your Android smartphone to control everything in your smart home, all you need is Amazon’s Alexa app. You need to download and install it first from Google Play Store. To download and install the Alexa app, simply open Google Play Store and then search for Alexa. Once the Alexa app appears, just tap on the app title and then press the Install button. If the app is already installed, just press on the Update button. If you already have the latest version of the Alexa app, then ignore this step.
Now once the app is installed, you need to sign in with your Amazon’s account credentials. After that, all you have to do is set up your Alexa with the Echo device in your home.
Once that is done, you will have to add the smart devices of your smart home to the Alexa app so that you can quickly control everything within your phone. You can control everything that makes your simple home a smartphone with the Alexa app, be it your smart bulbs, smart plugs, smart beds, smart scales, smart appliances, etc.
Manage Alexa Gadgets with Your Android Device
Every smart home equipment may require a different method for setting up with your Alexa app. You can also check out the instructions provided by the product manufacturer to make sure everything goes well during the setup process.
Some smart devices also need to be enabled before getting controlled by any third-party software such as the Alexa app. So you need to also ensure that the device you want to manipulate with the Alexa app has the smart home skill enabled.
You can enable it with the Alexa app with ease. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the Alexa app and then make sure all your smart home devices are powered on.
- Now in the app, go to the menu by tapping the menu button on the upper-left corner.
- After that, go to Skills & Games option and then find the brand which device you want to set up with the Alexa app.
- You can also tell the Devices button in your Alexa app and then scroll downwards and press Your Smart Home Skills.
- Now go to Enable Smart Home Skills.
- Then find the skills that your product demands.
So now, you have enabled the smart home skills for your smart devices on your Alexa app, but you still need to set up your smart home equipment.
How to Set Up Alexa with Your Smarthome devices
- Navigate to the Alexa app.
- Then press the Devices button on the bottom right in the navigation bar.
- Now hit the + button on the upper right corner and then press on Add Device.
- Next, you will see a new setup screen along with the devices that you wish to set up.
- You will see the list of Popular Brands on the screen.
- In case the brand of your smart home devices is available there, then click on it.
- If your device brand is not there, scroll downwards and look for the device type you want to set up.
- For instance, you are using Wemo Smart Plug, then choose the Wemo brand logo from the Popular Brand section. Alternatively, move downwards and then select the Plug option.
- The next step relies on choosing a brand from a Popular Brand list or choosing the device type by scrolling down. Here’s what you need to do next:
- If you pressed a brand icon from the Popular brand section: Follow the onscreen Alexa instructions to complete the setup process.
- If you selected a device type from the All Devices section: Choose the brand of the device you are setting up.
- Now complete further on screen prompts and instructions to set up and add your smart home device to Alexa.
If you have successfully added the smart home device to the Alexa app, then you will be able to control it via the app on your Android phone, or the Alexa enabled device like Echo smart speaker, Echo Dot, etc. Once you add the first device to the Alexa app, you need to repeat the same process for other smart home items to set them up on your Android device. When you have added everything related to smart home on your Alexa app, you will be able to control your whole smart home literally with a single app.
Creating Alexa Groups & Control Them with Alexa App
Now your next step is to organize every single app on your computer so that you can easily access their settings. A group in the Alexa app contains specific kinds of smart home devices. You can group all your living room devices into a group. This will help you control every individual room equipment rather easily. Alternatively, you can group the specific types of devices such as all smart bulbs of your home that will have a dedicated group.
- To make groups in Alexa app, follow these instructions:
- In the app, head to the Devices button and then press the + button.
- Click on the Add Group option.
- Now give your new group a name to stand it out. You can also choose from the recommended names by Alexa if that suits your devices.
- Hit the Next button.
- In the Define Group prompt, you need to select an Alexa smart speaker such as the Echo dot. Your speaker will be used to control all devices associated with this particular group. The app allows you to select more than one Alexa speaker for one group.
- After that, you choose the devices that you want to add to this group.
- Now, select the scenes if you have any and wish to apply it.
- Then press the save button.
- Now the new group has been created successfully, and it should show up on the main devices page on the Groups list.
- Next, all you have to do is open the group and control all devices with a single tap or command with your Alexa speaker.
Setting up Scenes for Your Smart Home Devices on Android
Many think that the Alexa app is capable of creating scenes for any smart device, but that’s not true. You need to access the smart home device’s manufacturer app to create scenes for it. Once the scene is created, it will appear on the Alexa app as well, but you can’t create it without the manufacturer’s instructions and app.
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This means you may need to install every device’s manufacturer app in order to create scenes for them.
Creating Routines on Alexa Android
By creating a routine, you can command selective smart items to function in a specific way within a single Alexa speaker command. For example, If you say Alexa Good Morning, it will start your coffee maker, turn on the lights, and play your daily briefing as well as your favorite music.
Here’s how to set up routines on your Alexa app:
- In the Alexa app, go to the menu.
- Press Routines.
- Hit the + button to create a new one.
- The New Routine screen would appear, and you would need to hit the + button located beside When this happens.
- Now you will see three options saying Voice, Schedule, and Device. Choose any of these according to your choice; the Voice will use a voice command to trigger a routine, and the Device option will use a specific device to start a routine when you turn it on.
- Then choose the things you need to include in your routine.
- Hit the Save button.
- On the New Routine screen, press the + button located beside Add Action.
- Now select and add the things that you need to add in your routine, such as Music, News, smart home.
- Then choose the action you want to occur when the routine triggers.
Follow the onscreen instruction and prompts to complete the further routine setup.
Rdx Tango is an avid technical blogger, a magazine contributor, a publisher of guides at Blogs World, and a professional cyber security analyst. Through her writing, she aims to educate people about the dangers and threats lurking in the digital world.
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