“ALEXA, CONTROL MY HOME”

The key to controlling your smart devices are ‘Skills’. Let’s look at how to use them to control Hive…

The first thing to do is open the Amazon Alexa app and sign in. Hit the menu top-left and choose Skills from the list. Here you’ll see a shopfront of all the ‘skills’ Alexa can link to. There are loads here, from knowledge-based services (such as chemistry facts) to games, quizzes and much more. But we’re going to focus on smart home. If you haven’t done so already, it’s a good idea to name your devices according to the room they’re in. You need to do this via the app itself, and then go back to the Alexa app and repeat the Discover Devices step. This makes sure everything is linked properly to Amazon Echo. We set this up on a Hive device, and while Hive’s not here in Aus, the process is transferable. Search for Hive (or your desired product) and choose its skill. Hit the Enable Skill button. Next, link your account to authorise Amazon Echo to control your devices. Hit Link Account, add your details and wait for the confirmation. OK, now all of your smart devices are linked you can control them. But it’s also a pretty cool thing to add groups. This means you can turn the whole of your downstairs lights off at once, for instance. Hit the Create Group button in the Smart Home section of the Alexa app and follow the steps. Now you add your devices. Once your account is linked you can either do this from the Smart Home menu in the Alexa app or simply say, ‘Alexa, add my devices’. You’ll then see a list of all your relevant devices appear, including any ‘recipes’ for lighting that you can create in the device’s app or your account. It’s time to test everything out. To do this, simply say, ‘Alexa, turn on the downstairs lights’. Or even, ‘Alexa, turn my iron off’. Essentially, you can now control all of your devices without lifting a finger, and Alexa it’s smart enough to recognise if you’re calling out a particular product.