Control Your Smart Home With the Alexa App

Amazon has added a new feature to its Alexa voice assistant that allows you to add frequently used devices to your Favorites tab. For users, this is a great way to control lights and other smart devices. The Devices tab will display smart home devices automatically added by the app. The Alexa app in the future may become a worthy competitor to apps like Apple Home or LIFX.

Control Devices With One Touch

The Alexa app has an Edit button that allows you to remove or add new devices to Favorites. You can see only six smart devices on the first page, and you, unfortunately, can't change their order. Therefore, to see specific ones on the first page, you will have to delete existing devices until the ones you need appear there.  

Visually, the new feature looks the same as the widgets that are presented in the Home app on the iOS platform. In the Devices tab, you can control your devices directly from the screen. For example, turn them on and off or control devices with smart lighting, namely, changing the brightness and temperature.

What’s Missing in the App?

The update appears to be very useful, but it lacks some elements to be fully operational. Many users will agree that it would be even better to have a scene as a Favorite, too. It would be nice to have a scene that lets you turn on all of the lights at once. Also, it would be handy to have a Device pad on the main screen because you don’t waste time moving into the tab and have access to the devices with one touch.

Despite some shortcomings, the new update will delight many owners of smart tools. So if you haven’t tried new features yet, now is the perfect time to do it. What do you think about the Alexa update? Do you have any smart devices? Feel free to leave your thoughts below and share the article with your friends!