The tutorial you are about to read is not the least. Following a lot of feedback from members, we are going to offer you a tutorial on how to do routines with Alexa ! Because unlike love, Alexa love routine.
First of all, what is a routine? A routine is a sequence of actions that you determine yourself to meet your own needs, according to your desires: wake up gradually, receive a notification of arrival of mail, switch on or off at a fixed time ...
So we'll explain how it works and give you tips, like Huggy.
The creation of groups: the more the merrier ...
In some cases, you may want to act not on a single element but a set of connected devices. This is called a group.
You can put everything there in terms of connected devices. How it works ? It's relatively straightforward. In the devices section, press the + at the top right and select "Add a group". You can choose its name and then come and put the devices you want by checking them, quite simply. In the case presented, it is a light group comprising different lamps, from different parts. You can do this for anything you want: a set of devices in the same room, a set of Echo (this is the principle of multiroom), ...
This prerequisite was necessary in order to attack the routines as such.
The routines: the beginning of the fun!
That's it, we're getting there! What do we find in the routines menu and its submenus ? First of all, to access the routines, open the menu at the top left and select routines... Then press the + at the top right to create one.
From there, this is what we find. When you create a routine, two subgroups appear:
- "When it happens". It is the gateway to routine. The one where you will start your sequence.
- Voice : it is an activation ofAlexa by a sentence that you yourself will determine. For example, " Alexa, Cuckoo "or" Alexa, turn everything off ”.
- Plan : another way of entry, the realization of a routine at fixed time. You choose the time and days to activate it. Be careful, it's either every day, week or weekend. For the moment, no possibility of choosing only a few days in weeks ... It will be necessary to do as much routine ...
- Device : With compatible devices (door opening detectors, thermometers, etc.), you choose an action according to the state of the device or a threshold.
- "Add an action". So this is the heart of your routine. From there you will choose what to perform as an action.
- Alexa says: lots of choices ranging from a simple hello, to phrases created by yourself to a set of pre-established phrases.
- Connected home: This is where you will choose the actions to be performed by a connected device such as turning off a bulb or turning it on, acting on its brightness or color or even adjusting the temperature ...
- Message: receive a notification on the app, which you will write yourself.
- Music : play a track or a playslist, choosing your music service and setting a timer after which it will turn off, if you wish.
- Weather report : Alexa will announce the weather forecast for your city of residence (the one entered in your settings).
- New : Alexa will spell out the news based on your list of chosen Skills.
- Device settings: you can turn off your Echoes or adjust their volume.
- Wait: very useful, this function allows you to chain actions not afterwards, but after a certain time. Like turning on a light at X% and switching it to X + 10% 1 min later ...
- Traffic: Alexa will give you the status to a dedicated location (entered in your settings).
There you go, you know where to find your different parts of the routines. We will see how to articulate them with concrete examples.
Routines! Routines! Routines!
Here are some examples of routines on which you can base yourself so that you can fully understand the system and give you ideas!
So thatAlexa tells you that you have received a package:
A routine for a gentle awakening:
It's up to you to vary the pleasures and add music or other ...
Do you remember your group of lights? He's there :
Be careful, when you do certain routines, it is necessary to choose the device where the action will take place.
And now, thanks to this tutorial, you are the routines no longer have any secrets! You are free to do what you want with it !!