Is Alexa Compatible with an iPhone?

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Gained early experience with automation technology in the private and industrial sector, can turn his living room into a movie theater with one voice command and is the owner of this website. He is happy to share his accumulated experience with every new article.

What is Alexa?

AMAZON*

AMAZON*

Alexa is the smart voice assistant from Amazon. The smart speakers are called echo devices.

There are already many of them, some with integrated screens. Here are the most popular models:

Echo Dot* – the smallest
Echo* – the standard device
Echo Show 5* – small smart display
Echo Show 8* – medium smart display
Echo Show 10* – large smart display

All variants are equipped with the same language assistant.

They are especially useful if you want to listen to a lot of music with Alexa. This article will tell you which of these speakers is best suited for music: The Best Smart Home Speakers for Music

How do you connect Alexa to your iPhone?

If you want to connect your iPhone to an Alexa device, you first need the Alexa App. Just go to your App Store and search for “Amazon Alexa”.

The app is free. After you have downloaded it completely, you can start and launch the Amazon Alexa app on your iPhone.

A navigation area is located on the left. Open it and switch to Settings. There you can now select your echo.

Afterward, you simply follow the instructions of Alexa. She will tell you verbally what to do next. You can tell if everything is working properly by the different shining colors.

Control Smart Home Devices via iPhone with Alexa

With the help of the app on your iPhone you can use great features of Alexa. For example, you can set, use and manage smart home devices.

Before we explain to you, what exactly you can do with it, you will first get an overview of the smart home devices that are currently available on the market:

You can control your devices by voice command. There is a voice command button in your app for this. It is located at the bottom center of the start screen. Voice commands can be like this, for example:

“Alexa, dim the lights in the living room.”
“Alexa, turn on the washing machine.”
“Alexa, lower the temperature in the kitchen two degrees.”
“Alexa, send the vacuum robot to vacuum.”

With the voice button on your iPhone, you don’t need an Alexa in every room. You can access your Alexa with your mobile phone from anywhere, even if you are out of earshot of your Alexa device.

Via the menu item “Add Devices” in the Alexa App, you can add new smart home devices to Alexa. You can also use the app to manage and delete smart home devices.

The easiest way is to create a routine for certain devices. You can use voice commands to control multiple devices at the same time or have them run automatically at a set time.

Create Alexa Routines with iPhone

With the help of routines, Amazon Alexa can be even more personalized and individually adapted to your life.

Take advantage of the easy way to simplify your life by letting Alexa perform actions by voice command that you would otherwise have to do yourself every day. Or even better, let her do things for you that you need to do at the same time every day.

Here is a short explanation of how to create a routine on your iPhone in the Alexa app:

Open the Alexa App
Select “Routines” from the menu bar
Press the + sign on the top right
Now select what should happen: either you select a voice command that should trigger different actions or you select a time and the corresponding weekdays at which actions should be executed
Now add the actions to be performed at the voice command or at the set time
Press “Create” last to save the action

Example 1:

For example, the voice command for point four could be “Good night Alexa”. The actions at point five could be: Blinds down, lights off everywhere, relaxing music on in the bedroom for 20 minutes.

Example 2:

You would like to be woken by Alexa from Monday to Friday at 6:00 am. In return, you want your bedroom shutters to go halfway up and play your favorite radio station. So in step four, you set that Alexa should start these actions without a voice command from Monday to Friday at 6:00 am. You can sort the individual steps and create pauses, so that, for example, the music is played first and the shutters are raised a few minutes later.

Name the different routines you create so that you don’t lose track. Once you start using Alexa’s many features, there will be more over time. It’s better to have them sorted and named from the beginning.

What are Alexa Skills?

Amazon Alexa can do much more.

Alexa will make you suggestions of things you probably don’t know yet. With Alexa’s help you can find out and ask for many things worth knowing.

To let Alexa know which sources you prefer, you can specify which ones you like best in your iPhone Amazon Alexa app. Just activate what’s important to you.

You can then control the skills by voice command and integrate them into your routines.

Examples of Alexa Skills:

Skill “Wikipedia”
Skill “Smart Phone Finder”
Skill “Door Alarm”
Skill “Dictionary”
Skill “Sleep sounds”

How do I Communicate with Alexa Via my iPhone?

For some time now, the app for your iPhone also has a button for voice control. If you activate it, Alexa will listen to you. When the blue oscillation bar shows oscillating movements, you know that she is recording you. This allows you to send voice commands to Alexa from your phone. To help you get the most out of Alexa, here are the most important features:

Create Alarms and Timers

With Alexa, you can create alarms and timers by voice command. Just press the voice button in your Alexa app. Say for example:

“Alexa, wake me up with the song…”
“Alexa, set the alarm for 8:00 am.”
“Alexa, set a repeating alarm for 6:00 am.”
“Alexa, stop music playback after 30 minutes.”
“Alexa, reset my alarm.”
“Alexa, set a timer for 45 minutes.”
“Alexa, what time is my alarm set for?”
“Alexa, how long does my timer go for?”
“Alexa, what time is it?”

Create To-Do Lists

You can also create to-do and shopping lists with Alexa. This way you won’t forget anything and make your everyday life easier. Say for example:

“Alexa, what’s on my grocery list?”
“Alexa, put flour and eggs on the shopping list.”
“Alexa, order the DVD xy from Amazon.”
“Alexa, how many calories does an avocado have?”
“Alexa, find a recipe with salmon.”
“Alexa, add the hairdresser’s appointment for Monday, May 12th, at 4:00 p.m.”
“Alexa, when is my next appointment?”
“Alexa, remember my dentist appointment.”
“Alexa, put gas on my to-do list.”

Alexa Answers Questions from Children

Conveniently, Alexa can also entertain your children. Amazon Alexa offers great games that can be played via the app or an Echo device.

The games are suitable not only for children but also for adults. Alexa also has an answer to all kinds of children’s questions and can also be helpful for school learning.

It is recommended to activate skills such as Wikipedia or similar, which Alexa can use for the answer search.

Examples:

“Alexa, is the Easter Bunny real?”
“Alexa, why does a chicken lay eggs?”
“Alexa, how many more days till Christmas?”
“Alexa, which is the largest country in the world?”
“Alexa, what are the neighboring countries of the USA?”
“Alexa, where do penguins live?”
“Alexa, what is the capital of Belgium?”

Music Voice Commands

Of course, you can also listen to your favorite music with Alexa. But Amazon Alexa is not compatible with iTunes.

For this purpose, it can, for example, use other music services such as Spotify. So you can activate your favorite music with voice commands via the Alexa app. Say for example:

“Alexa, play the song…”
“Alexa, play relaxation music.”
“Alexa, play my playlist… of Spotify.”
“Alexa, volume four.”
“Alexa, louder.”
“Alexa, off/stop.”

With the purchase of an Amazon Alexa device, you have done everything right. The app for your iPhone can make your life easier in many ways. Have fun trying it out.

Attention: When installing electronic equipment, please be sure to observe the manufacturer’s safety instructions. You have to take care of your own safety. The information on this site only helps you to learn.
Disclosure: This website is the property of Martin Lütkemeyer and is operated by Martin Lütkemeyer. Martin Lütkemeyer is a member of the Amazon Services LLC Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to enable Web sites to earn advertising revenue through advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Links marked with * are affiliate links.