What Are Alexa Routines And How Do You Use Them

[@garybowen4974]

I'm that beginner you mentioned! LoL! I am moving into a new home and getting it set up for the first time with Ring and Alexa. The MAIN purpose is integrating it all together (lights, cameras, alarm) for a security system. But I might do a couple little fun features with in the home for fun, like turning off the lights and closing the drapes in the movie room when we want to start a movie! Other than that I dont have much use for all the other routines yet.

[@SteveDOES]

Glad this video helped.

[@mechellecrosby2621]

I would love to know more about security and home assistance. Thank you! Loved this one!

[@georgeemanson]

Me 2

[@marcoontingco5370]

yeah i'm in for the home assistant in future episode.

[@SteveDOES]

Are you using Home Assistant now?

[@marcoontingco5370]

@@SteveDOES i wish 😅 i've never been more scared in my life. i'm hoping to do it though once i have my own house, it's hard to do a full scale smart home while renting 🤣.

[@BreakTime10101]

Great video, I now have Routines set up for my front and back doors to turn the lights on when I open them at night. Thanks Steve! 👍

[@Urtana]

Thank you Steve, I just installed a smart lights switch and have been trying to setup a routine as follows: Every day, at time xyz (6 PM for example), turn on the Office light for a random duration between 5 and 10 minutes within a period of 4 hours (time at which the routine is executed). I have been trying to create this without any success. Your help/instruction will be greatly appreciated.

[@kimsmalley953]

Interested in the home assistant as well

[@lenellachellis2859]

what is it?

[@SteveDOES]

Are you using Home Assistant now?

[@kimsmalley953]

@@SteveDOES I am not but interested in knowing more about it.

[@dnoland77]

Alexa routines meet 99% of my needs. Sure I would like more conditions available so I don't have to make multiple routines for what is basically the same thing BUT is the time commitment worth it? I'll admit that I've been tempted by some of the awesome HA dashboards I've seen but then I remember how much I don't even use the one I already have on the Fire tablets. Steve, based on your style, I find you uniquely qualified to do a beginners guide to Alexa routines but you need to focus on simple, high impact routines to capture not only peoples attention but curiosity and commitment. Lights with a motion sensor is a great example.

[@SteveDOES]

Thanks David! I totally agree on the frustration of making multiple routines that essentially do the same thing with one slight change. I dove into Apple HomeKit and automation in there was amazing!

[@billr8564]

Steve, I enjoy your videos and think this series is an excellent idea. I also think covering home assistants would be great! Now, I am a senior who loves the technology, but I do not have the expertise of most of the folks watching your videos. While you mention this video was for beginners, I would appreciate something even more basic to help me get started. For, example, for me, a step-by-step for setting up of a routine that will allow my wife or I to say "dinnertime" to Alexa that would have her say "dinner is ready" through all of our echo devices at once (we have 7 throughout the house) would be a good way for a novice like me to get started. I know you went through something a bit more involved, but this would be something that I could build from.

[@SteveDOES]

Sure Bill, I’ll do a very basic setup video for this. :)

[@billr8564]

@@SteveDOES Thanks very much, Steve! I look forward to it!

[@dankelley9361]

Looking forward to your series and how it progresses. Definitely tie in Alexa & SmartThings!, use them on everything. Home Assist would be interesting, never used, but would love to see how, along with its pros & cons!

[@kmsoriano05]

Thanks, Im new to automation. and a basic home assistance would be great!!

[@vinhennessy3885]

Looking forward to this series

[@zaytooni]

I’d love to set up automations based on a bed pressure sensor, so when I get into bed, for example, front door will lock if I forgot to lock it myself, turn off all lights, alarm on, set some sleep sounds, etc

[@SteveDOES]

Love this idea. I’ll start looking into it.

[@marcolopez4720]

Alexa is the best only ❤❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉😊😊😊😊😊😊😊 3:52

[@charlesdiekmann9594]

I would be interested in home assistant, but I feel it would be to complicated for me to use. I’m also concerned it would make me want to stand up and thrust my mid section of my body back and fourth repeatedly while screaming home assistant. It seems to have an affect on people. Appreciate the series, I’m starting to add more smart home devices to my home.

[@SteveDOES]

“HOME ASSISTANT!” Lol love Paul Hibbert. I watched some videos on Home Assistant from Dr. Z and it melted my brain. BUT if that’s what people are interested in, I’m willing to give it a try. :)

[@mickeypeare6306]

I would like to know how to de-clutter the Alexa main screen and just show a few Routines that I want to do such as turn on lights at night, the turn off lights at 11pm. I can find routines which are somewhat hidden in the app. But I'd like to have them on the main screen and easy to access.

[@vickiedetwiler6119]

Schedule turn light on 5;00 Pm

[@tjwellington6121]

Steve can you give advice on google nest setting and programming

[@akaCamo]

Looking forward to more in this series. I would like to know if there is a routine that can be set up to deactivate (and one to activate) a group of routines. For example, if shovelling snow and going back and forth in the driveway it would be nice to disable the garage door sensor alarm routine, side door motion sensors routines, back gate motion sensor routines, front porch sensors and driveway alarm routines etc with one single routine so Alexa isn’t constantly making announcements inside the house. Having multiple Echoes , Echo Dots, Flexes and Shows in the house there are too many to go around and shut them all off and back on in order to disable some or all of the Alexa system.

[@brittanyperry8653]

There's actually a way to pause that. Under the routine It allows you to put the time frame for this to happen as well as it gives you an option to suppress it. So if the door was triggered to open you can suppress that to not happen until let's say 30 minutes to an hour to 3 hours however long you want it to suppress.

[@SteveDOES]

@akaCamo this is a great question. I’ve run into this issue myself, not to your extreme though. :) So you want some announcement routines to mute while keeping the other active. Let me see what I can find out.

[@durtydeedsREI]

What I would like to see is incorporating multiple routines into simple functions. For example, some people in my house don't want to use their voice and others might need to turn on/off lights during the timeframe a motion sensor isn't checking for motion. What would you do in these instances?

[@aimster2084]

Can I set it up to send the most popular gift for a little girl to my cart for review on the date that I select? I suck at remembering my nieces' birthdays.

[@coriel2597]

Thanks 🙏

[@victorcisneros5670]

Hey Steve, I have a non smart tv but I also have a fire stick plugged in Which works with Alexa But it doesn't control my tv And I have a directv provider. Could you tell how to connect them with Alexa and change the input from HDMI 1 to HDMI2 And also how to connect the sound bar. Since I cannot control direct TV on hdmi , I downloaded directv on my firetv and I still cannot control it. What is the solution to this?

[@dankelley9361]

One other question, I know you love the Lutron ecosystem. Always wondered if it ties in with Alexa & SmartThings?

[@davidlawson4159]

Love your work, my question is I have routines set up in different apps like hue. is the Alexa app the best to set up everything or do I need different apps for different things. Thanks for what you do

[@SteveDOES]

The Alexa app is good at centralizing everything but it’s missing key automation features. Like starting a lighting routine at sunset and ending at 9pm. Or if motion is detected turn on lights and when motion stops for 5 min turn lights off. You can do it, it just has to be in 2 separate routines. Makes it messy. However in the Hue app you can setup routines that can start at sunset. So in some cases you’ll get more functionality out of the native app.

[@davidlawson4159]

@@SteveDOES thank you

[@davidlawson4159]

@@SteveDOES Thank You

[@peadarbradaigh8612]

Would be good to see some routine driven light effects. Like morning routines.

[@nightshiftracing.]

I am using a yolink motion sensor and govee rgb bulbs in my bathroom to have time of day routines. Its just annoying when I walk in and the routine goes on fine but say I change the lights from its original brightness to another when the motion sensor goes off again it will go back to what the original routine had it set at. Is there a way to run the routine but then tell alexa to change it and have the routine ignored if im still in the bathrooom? or should I just use a door sensor instead for something like this?

[@i7llmi]

Why not sound detaction for my alexa routines ?

[@konstantinosgavriilidis5440]

A couple of questions for anyone that can help... I was thinking getting an echo 4 with zigbee hub, is there any difference in the way you connect zigbee devices? Also, when the mater protocol is out, will existing echo devices support it or you'll have to buy everything again?

[@SimonDingley]

Links are missing for door and window sensors. Can you give details please?

[@billyvee2848]

Alexa claims one of my smart home devices (when trying to link accounts) does not show a compatible account with Alexa. Does this mean that it's because I don't subscribe to my devices monthly monitoring service? I just have the basic?

[@SteveDOES]

Is this an Echo device or a different type of device?

[@clive7788]

Yep ,,,i liked it ..i have lots of fun with my routines..when i say ....Alex , good night....it turns off my lights then says. Get some more beer for the man of the house and steak for dinner .....i do a different one most nights ..some i can't put on here 🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤣

[@davidjamgochian]

Alexa is a great time for a quick question

[@perrybette]

Steve , I am new to your channel. I am focusing on Alexa as my smart home manager. Question: I have apps already in my phone that controls lights (Phillip hue) and robot vacuum (roomba). Do those apps integrate with alexa so that routines I already have are just moved over to alexa or do I need to set them again? Look forward to your reply.

[@GreeniusGenius]

No, if you made a Hue routine, it will stay in Hue (and that’s not a bad thing, since Hue routines are run locally off the bridge). Scenes, however, should automatically transfer.

[@NightSociety]

Amazon made the routine more difficult than it is. It should all in one set-up, for ex "When this happens" just add choice of FROM and TO time, no need to create another routine command to shut off/on etc...most users this is suffice

[@varistybc]

I want to set up a kid friendly automation for weekends set something up so they can watch TV without waking me or mom up until 9am on weekends.

[@sambowman8395]

Who won the robot vacuum

[@swiftMyDay]

Haha good question

[@SteveDOES]

Great question, I’m expecting to get the 100k plaque in the next 7-10 days. I’ll pick a winner at that time and do a quick video announcement.

[@sambowman8395]

Ok thank you

[@AllenBennett-vp6gd]

Can I tell my Echo Pop to remind me to drink water every 2 hours from 9 AM to 9 PM and then to stop reminding me until the next day? If so, how do I do that?

[@chrispayne523]

I have no problems with creating routines. I just have one which I don't want anymore. I disabled it, I deleted it, I rebooted all my devices I even deleted my Alexa app off my phone. But the routine still runs.

[@SteveDOES]

I had this happen to me one time with SmartThings. I had to call support and they fixed it on the back end.

[@Happy-Me.]

I want Alexa to come on for 10 minutes a day while I'm away and I can't seem to find this simple task.

[@thomasheege2052]

How do you have Alexa play a song not my title but my number ?

[@rickhamacher8487]

Routines do not work right now. There is a software problem Amazon is going to fix.

[@OceanDrive321]

How about now?