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20WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE IN ALEXA ROUTINES1 2 3
Next issue: ExpressVPN on an Amazon Fire TV StickI have installed in my office. I
selected ‘When this happens’,
chose the Smart Home option,
then selected the Ring motion
sensor in my office. This gave
me a choice of two triggers for
when motion is Not Detected or is
Detected.
I opted for Not Detected (^1 in
our screenshot left), and then
used the timer below to select 30
minutes^2. This starts the routine
if no motion is detected for half
an hour. Then I tapped Next
and chose whether the trigger
is operational at all times or only at
certain times.
The latter is useful when you want to
detect motion to turn on a light,
for example. I’d want this to happen in
the evening only, not during the day. I
then tapped ‘Add action’ to select
what happens and, again, chose
Smart Home. I selected All Devices,
found my Dyson fan, then switched
the Power slider to Off^3. I clicked
Next and saved the Routine.
The result is that when my office
camera doesn’t detect motion for 30
minutes, it will automatically turn off
my fan heater. Multiple actions can be
added, so I can turn off my smart lights
(Philips Hue) with the same trigger,
for instance.
I can also reverse the trigger in a
new routine: turn on the fan and set
the target temperature when motion
is detected again. There are numerous
other combinations, so I recommend
diving into the app and seeing which
of your devices you can use.11 – 24 May 2022 • Issue 631Currently, you can set only specific times
for triggers, so it would be handy to have
more general options, such as sunset andsunrise. For example, you might want your
garden lights to turn on at sunset and turn
off at sunrise all year round.Give each routine a trigger (‘When this
happens’) and an actionDavid tells Alexa to turn his fan off if
his camera doesn’t detect motion for
30 minutesRegular readers may have gathered by
now that I’m very lazy, and love finding
ways to automate tasks I can’t avoid.
One way I do this is through Alexa
Routines, on Amazon’s Echo smart
speakers.
You’ll find Routines in the Alexa
app on your phone – tap More, select
Routines, then click the Plus button.
Routines work with a trigger (‘When
this happens’,^1 in our screenshot
below), which tells it to run, followed
by an action^2 , which is what actually
happens.
The most common trigger is your
voice: type the word you want Alexa
to listen for (if you choose ‘goodbye’,
for example, saying ‘Alexa, goodbye’
would start the routine). You can
then pick the actions, which can be
controlling smart devices (such as
turning off lights), getting a news
update or traffic report and so on.
But it’s Alexa’s non-spoken triggersthat I find most useful. One of the lesser-
known is telling an internet-connected
(smart) device in your home to start a
routine by detecting motion.
To add smart devices, you need to
add the relevant Skill (tap More, ‘Skills
& Games’). Search these Skills by
manufacturer (Ring, in my case) to find
the right one. Go into the Alexa app
again and click Devices, followed by ‘All
devices’. Tap the device you want. If you
see on-screen controls (such as an on/
off button), you can use routines with
the device; if you just see an information
page with no controls, you can’t. Only a
year or so ago, most devices didn’t allow
this level of control, but many now do.
One of my favourite routines is using
my Ring alarm and Dyson Purifier
Hot+Cool Formaldehyde fan, whichDavid Ludlow is so lazy that he even uses Amazon’s Alexa to turn
off his fan heater. He’s probably never said thank you either
Alexa Routines
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