The Amazon Echo and Alexa aren’t worth much on their own. In order to get the best bang for your buck, you need to connect Amazon Echo and Alexa to each other and to your smart objects. Otherwise, you’ll just have a set of speakers and an AI assistant for your smartphone. That’s not exactly utilizing those products to their fullest potential!
Without connecting the Echo to anything, you’ll have an okay playback device. If this is the case, you’re truly wasting your money, as you can purchase an even better sound system for a more affordable price. The reason why the Echo is priced higher is its ability to link with Alexa. So you’ll want to take advantage of that capability.
That said, we’ll go ahead and teach you how you can do that. Without further ado, here’s how to connect Amazon Echo and Amazon Alexa.
Installing the Alexa app
- Open up the Google Play Store or the Amazon Store on your phone or tablet.
- Search for Amazon Alexa.
- Click Install/Download, and wait for the download to finish.
- When the download is finished, the app should automatically install itself into your phone or tablet.
- Open the application and follow the steps below to configure your other smart devices.
Setting up Alexa on the Echo
The first thing you need to do is install and register Alexa to your smartphone, tablet, or computer.
Also make sure that your smart devices are on the same Wi-Fi network as your phone/tablet.
- Plug in your Echo or your smart device to a reliable power source.
- Connect your phone/tablet to the Amazon Echo Wi-Fi network.
- Open the Amazon Alexa app and choose Set up a new device.
- You’ll need to be logged in at this point. If you aren’t already, the app will prompt you to input your username and password to login.
- Choose your Wi-Fi network and access it using the correct password (if applicable).
- Alexa assistant is all good to go!
Connecting the Echo to Wi-Fi
The Echo also needs to be connected to the internet in order to process commands and search functions. After all, the internet is where the device gets all of its information from. Here’s how to connect Amazon Echo to Wi-Fi.
- Open the Alexa App and go into settings.
- Select the Echo device and hit Set up a new device.
- On the Echo, long-press the Action button and the light ring will go from blue to orange. This signifies the Echo is searching for a signal and has connected to your phone/tablet.
- Now that your Echo is connected to your phone, you can connect your Echo to a Wi-Fi that provides internet.
- Select your Wi-Fi network and if there is a password, input it. If there is no password, it should automatically go through.
- Select connect, and after a brief moment, you will receive a message confirming that your Echo is now connected to the internet.
- Enjoy!
Connecting Alexa to the Echo and other smart devices
Before you begin, make sure that your smart device is compatible with Alexa. You can find this information usually directly on the product’s box, in the informational booklet, or online.
You will also need to have the Alexa app downloaded and installed on your mobile device. See steps above. Remember to keep the app updated for optimal performance
Here’s how to connect Alexa to the Echo and other smart devices.
- Open the Alexa app.
- Go to menu, then tap Skills.
- Look through the list of skills or use the search function to type in keywords to narrow your search.
- After finding the Alexa skill corresponding to your smart device, tap enable.
- A new set of instructions will appear on your screen. Follow them exactly to finish the connecting process.
- Wake Alexa and command her to “discover my devices.” Alternatively, you can go back to your Alexa app and tap Add Device from the Smart Home section.