question

mr c deckard avatar image
mr c deckard asked

Device Discovery Integrated into Alexa App,

Hi, I feel strongly that it is a bad customer experience to require them to go to a separate app to provision a device (see homekit devices as an example of not being required to do so). If I understand correctly, this is required for Alexa Smart Home setup (that is, I am expected to maintain knowledge of their devices in a separate "cloud database"). Please correct me if I am mistaken.

If not, is there work under way to address this? I would be interested to work with the Alexa/Smart Home team on this.

Thanks,

Chris Deckard

Seattle

,

alexa smart homedevice discovery
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3 Answers

johannes avatar image
johannes answered

Hi Chris,

Thanks for posting on the forums and apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I would suggest getting in touch with customer service here who should be able to assist with your matter further.

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mr c deckard avatar image
mr c deckard answered

Is there no one who has an answer to this?

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Alistair answered

Honestly the question isn't entire clear.... can you elaborate?

Cloud management of devices is the responsibility of the product vendor. HomeKit works differently from Alexa in that the Alexa interaction happens Cloud (AWS) to Cloud (Vendor) whereas HomeKit devices are locally controlled on the homeowner's network (and, if you're remote, an AppleTV or iPad on the home network sends the JSON control payloads to the device).

This inherently makes the device configuration model different. Some earlier approaches (e.g. Hue) used local discovery, but that's just more confusing for the end user.

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