How to Know if Alexa Works with Your Lights

Alexa has become an incredibly popular way to control lights in homes. While Amazon’s virtual assistant is compatible with lighting from dozens of manufacturers, it’s a good idea to know if Alexa works with your lights beforehand. It’s something that’s easy to discern in some cases, but you may need to dig deep to sync up some small or lesser-known brands of lights.

How Do I Know if Alexa Works with My Lights?

The easiest way to know if Alexa will work with your lights is to check their capability before you buy them. A quick Google search will bring up millions of results for “lights that work with Alexa,” and there is no shortage of options to choose from.

With smart lighting, you’ll often find that manufacturers list compatible voice assistants on the box. You can also find lights listed online with the “Works with Alexa” tag. While you won’t see many lights with Siri listed at the top, most will work with Alexa. Here are a few of the more well-known brands designed to work with Amazon’s smart assistant.

• Philips Hue
• Kasa Smart
• Sengled
• Govee
• GE CYNC
• Sylvania

Buying compatible lights is the best way to ensure they’ll work with Alexa. Smart lights work with other home assistants, however, including Google Assistant and Siri. If you’ve been using smart lighting with another virtual assistant or software, you may not know if Alexa works. Thankfully, you can address that in a few minutes with any smartphone or tablet.

Use Alexa to Find Your Lights

If you’ve switched to Alexa or you are just trying to see if a brand of intelligent light you have installed will work with Amazon’s assistant, you’ll need to get an app. The Alexa app is compatible with every smartphone and tablet you can imagine — the only requirement is an Amazon account. Before you follow these steps, make sure the smart light is plugged in and the fixture is on.

1. Download the Alexa App

Download the Alexa app from Google Play or the App Store if you don’t already have it installed on your device. Open the app and sign in using your Amazon credentials.

2. The More Section

At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a row of options with sections for Devices and More. Both of these areas allow you to add or search for lights, but More provides more options. Choose More to proceed to the next step.

3. Choose a Device

From here, you can find your lights in a variety of ways. You can search for them, select a shortcut, or choose the Light icon to access an extensive list of brands. Find your light brand from the list and select it. If you don’t see your lights in the list, choose Other and select a corresponding symbol from the options.

4. Follow the Setup Process

Follow the on-screen prompts to help Alexa detect your smart lights and set them up. If you haven’t installed the official app for the lights you’re using, you’ll see a message similar to the one below. This means you’ll need to rely on Smart Home Skills to access the lighting.

Alexa Smart Skills

If you need to add lights through Skills, the process is incredibly simple. Open the Alexa app and choose More. From the new options, scroll until you see a section labeled Skills and Games and select it. From this area, you can search for skills to control your light.

You can also use the Discover Devices button from the Alexa app to search for connected smart devices on your home network. That includes lights, switches, cameras, slow cookers, and smart plugs.

The Wrap-Up

Setting up and finding lights that work with Alexa is simple, thanks to Amazon’s intuitive tech. More smart lighting works with Alexa than any other home assistant, although you may need to set up software from the light manufacturer beforehand. If you’re looking for more smart gadgets to control with Alexa, we have you covered.