How To Set Up Alexa With Android Phone

Amazon Echo quaternary Gen (Image credit: Joe Maring / Android Central)

At that place'southward a truly incredible number of things you lot can do with Amazon'southward continued speakers, and ideally, a lot of these things volition casually become a part of your daily routine over time. Hither'southward everything you need to know about getting started with your Amazon Echo, Repeat Dot, or Echo Plus.

Connecting your Echo with the Amazon Alexa app

Amazon's Alexa digital banana forms the basis for one of the best smart speaker experiences yous'll discover today, and the service is designed to be something yous can rely on for but about every aspect of the continued habitation. To become the nearly out of this experience you want to showtime by setting it up correctly out of the box. While you don't need your phone to do much with your Echo once it is set upwardly, you will need the Alexa app to become there.

Every part of the setup and maintenance process goes through the app, so your first step is to install the Alexa app from the Play Store (opens in new tab). While it is installing, connect the ability supply to the port on the bottom of the device and expect for information technology to start speaking to y'all. When you open the app for the showtime time you'll be prompted to sign in to your Amazon account, and and then information technology'll be time to connect to your Echo.

Amazon Echo connects to your Wi-Fi network, just to get at that place you need to first connect directly to the speaker from your phone. This process starts with an orange band effectually the top of the Repeat to let you know information technology is fix to connect. Once you plug in your Echo device and run across an orangish ring, you tin get started with setting it upward.

Open up the Amazon Alexa app from the app drawer or home screen.
Sign in to your Amazon business relationship.
Once yous're logged in, select the horizontal bars on the top left corner of the screen to pull upwards the menu.

Connecting your Echo with the Amazon Alexa app — Source: Android Fundamental (Image credit: Source: Android Cardinal)

Tap Add Device.
Select Amazon Echo from the listing.
Cull the Echo device you're setting upward.

Select the generation of the Echo device.
Toggle Bluetooth to allow your telephone to find the Echo device.
Select the device from the list.

Choose the Wi-Fi network that will be used past the Echo device.
Select Continue in one case your Echo device is connected to the Wi-Fi network to customize it.
If you're connecting your Repeat to an external speaker, you lot'll be able to select the output here. Otherwise, only select Use Echo Congenital-in Speaker.

Select the room where your Echo device is located (this will come in handy when setting upwardly Routines).
Watch the intro video to become a cursory rundown of the Repeat platform.
That's information technology! Hit Next to complete setting up your Echo.

Giving Repeat access to your accounts

Now that your Echo is connected to your home Wi-Fi network, you need to give it some things to do. When you logged in to your Amazon account you gave Echo access to Amazon music services, which is peachy if you're a Prime number Music user, but there's a good chance you lot'd like to give Echo access to something else. Opening the side bill of fare will give you access to music services to log in to, with more every bit you coil down.

You tin also use this side menu to grant Echo access to your Google Agenda and your physical address for piece of work and home. Doing so will brand information technology and then Alexa can tell you what is on your agenda for today, as well as weather and traffic data. You get the ability to choose what news sources are used for the Flash Conference, where Echo reads you the news for the day.

In the Alexa app, tap the horizontal bars to pull upward the card.
Go to Settings.
In the Alexa Preferences section, select the Music tab to add your music accounts.

Giving Echo access to your accounts — Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Central)

Select the music service you want associated with your Echo device.
Select Flash Briefing to add together your news sources.
Coil downward to the Agenda section if you want to link your Google calendar to your Echo device.

Setting each of these up to your personal preferences goes a long way towards embedding Echo in your mean solar day to twenty-four hour period life, turning your morning reading and research into a casual conversation.

Connecting Alexa to your connected home

If you've started down the path of the connected abode, where smart gadgets give you the ability to control your lights or your thermostat or your coffee maker, you're going to want to connect those things to your Amazon Repeat. If you've got a SmartThings or Wink hub, y'all'll demand to log in and connect to the hub then Repeat can admission everything on your network. From here you'll be able to speak and have Echo command the things you lot'd usually use the control apps to access.

If you lot're connecting Philips Hue bulbs, the Alexa app will scan your network and requite y'all some options for control. Y'all can either speak to control private bulbs, or you can group those bulbs and command groups all at once. In one case you've fix this upwards, you can speak group names and take all of the same functionality as you would with an individual bulb, which makes whole room control much more enjoyable.

In the Alexa app, tap the horizontal bars on the top left corner to pull up the menu.
Select Add Device to link your connected dwelling house products to your Echo device.
Choose the category from the list to find all the brands that work with the Echo platform. If you're setting up Hue bulbs, select the Hue icon.

Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Key)

Alexa works with a vast array of smart dwelling house products, then at that place's a loftier take chances that whatever products you already have will work with your Echo device.

Exploring your Amazon Echo for fun

We've covered the nuts for setting up your Amazon Repeat, but at that place's a ton of other things you can do that are just plain fun. For starters, at that place's a whole section of the Echo side carte du jour labeled Skills & Games for yous to check out. Skills are basically tertiary-party apps that can be installed on your Echo. Some of them are light-headed, like having Alexa roll a half-dozen-sided dice and read you the result, or having a random Shakespearean insult voiced at you, but others give y'all access to passenger vehicle schedules and simple science and math facts for kids to use.

Scrolling through Skills is well worth anybody's time, and information technology's updated with new features regularly. Routines are another groovy way to get to know your Echo. You can fix groups of activities, similar lite controls and Wink Briefing reads, to exist triggered as a group when you inquire for morning time or evening routines to be activated. This becomes a lot more useful once you lot've gotten to know how y'all like your Echo set upwards and can exist edited at any time. Hither'south how to set up Routines on your Amazon Repeat.

Finally, if you are always unsure about what your Repeat can exercise, the Things to Attempt tab in the sliding bill of fare will give you lot a massive list of things you can inquire Alexa. Amazon regularly adds new features and seasonal updates to Alexa, and so there'southward never a shortage of things to try out.

Stellar sound

Amazon Echo with Alexa (quaternary Gen)

The best Alexa experience you can get
The new Echo combines an elegant design with excellent audio drivers, delivering incredible sound. This is 1 of the best smart speakers for audio right now, and you also get Zigbee integration, assuasive the Echo to pair directly with smart lights and other accessories without a hub.

Just as good

Amazon Echo Dot with clock and Alexa (4th Gen)

It's all most that value
The Echo Dot retains the same design as the regular Echo, only the smaller form gene makes information technology platonic if yous don't desire a full-size speaker. Just the biggest selling point hither is the value. At half the price of the Echo, you're saving a lot of cash with the Echo Dot.

Harish Jonnalagadda is the Asia Editor at Android Central. A reformed hardware modder, he now spends his time covering the Chinese and Indian handset markets. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.