Discover Devices

[brians]

Hi, just trying out Amazon. I have Google Homes but something is making me want to try. I installed App on my iPhone.

Issue is that when I add a device on the isy portal, when I press the Add Device button in the App  (Smart Home, Devices) it fails. However if I speak to it, "discover devices" it adds fine.

Is there a way to add them without speaking?

 

[larryllix]

In the Alexa app and website, at the bottom of the list of devices you will find a "Forget All Devices" and a "Discover"

[Tim McDermott]

As an aside, I found that I had to run the Alexa app on a device other than my Fire tablet. For some reason Discover and Forget Devices don't appear in all GUIs. 

[rccoleman]

Yeah, the Alexa apps are weird like that.  Some things only show up in the web app (forget offline devices), some things only in the mobile apps (Routines), and apparently some of the mobile apps are different.

[larryllix]

Alexa apps love to use the invisible menus that come and go depending on which way you hold your tongue. They drive me crazy.

I just got off the phone with Alexa support trying to give a second person access. It was so simple but they don't like to tell you which account they are talking about. We signed in and out of Amazon about 6 times before it started to work. Still some hangovers from having a fake US account too.

[brians]

I just picked up an Echo Dot on sale... After adding that the iPhone app works when discovering devices.

So far Echo seems more responsive than Google when initially waking up.

 

[brians]

One thing I found it seems that Google can do and Echo cannot...

If I assign two Google homes to different Rooms along with some lights (eg. Family Room, Master Bedroom) and I have a light in respective rooms called Family Room Ceiling and Master Bedroom Ceiling then I can just be in Family Room and say "Ok Google, turn on the Ceiling" and it will turn on the Family Room Ceiling. Echo doesn't do this if there are multiple devices in house using word ceiling. But I think a better way to approach it is to  just group lights you actually want to turn on or off in a room... for example, in my Master Bedroom I have a whole bunch of lights and fan etc... but 99% of time I just want to turn on/off the main light... so no need to group anything else. Therefore Echo Groups may be better idea than Google Rooms.

BTW, seems strange I cannot add my dot to the group in the web app but I need to use my iPhone app to do it. But then if I go into web app and save that group it removes the dot. However, iPhone is much nicer interface than Google Home app.

Edited September 29, 2018 by brians

[larryllix]

I find just the opposite. I have about 30 items in my home called "XXX Light". If I ask Alexa to Turn on/Off any light there is no confusion. However if I ask Google Home to turn On XXX Light, it will turn on multiple lights up to the whole house because every light has the word "light in the name.

I gave had to rename most of my device for GH and I just avoid using my three GH minis as much as possibe now. GH can also not support a different calendar fron the original account holder. If I give my wife access to my calendar she can access every google aspect of account, my location, email, and how long I spent anywhere I ever went. After months of trying to get some real support I just gave up. Google always just professed they didn't know.