Skip to main content
Smart Home

How to manage your Alexa-enabled devices

Here's how to manage dozens of devices quickly and easily

The Echo Dot is a relatively unobtrusive way to build your smart home. Credit: Amazon
Nick Schmiedicker
Written by Nick Schmiedicker

Updated January 23, 2017

Products are chosen independently by our editors. Purchases made through our links may earn us a commission.

If you recently purchased an Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap you might be left wondering "Well, now what?" Nothing to fear, my friend.

Related content

  • Amazon Echo devices

    feature

    Everything that works with Amazon Echo and Alexa
  • The Amazon Echo Pop next to the Echo Dot

    feature

    Echo Dot vs. Echo Pop: Which one should you buy?

There's a lot to get through in order to get a smart assistant to do the heavy lifting of your home automation. And while we've gone over the seemingly endless list of everything that works with Alexa, there are some fundamental settings you might want to familiarize yourself with first. Below you'll find a step-by-step guide on how to manage your new Alexa-enabled device.

How to get started

The first thing you'll see when you get into the Settings tab of the Alexa mobile app or at alexa.amazon.com is a list of some pretty generic settings. It's from here that you'll be able to manage: your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connection, pair an Alexa remote, sounds and notifications, your device name, and device location. It's all pretty straightforward stuff here, so I'll spare you the details.

The settings for Alexa are pretty straightforward.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Daniel Wroclawski

Once you get there, the settings for your Alexa device are fairly straightforward.

How to set wake words for Alexa

Much like anyone in your life, if you want to interact with Alexa, first you need to get its attention. While the default is your new assistant's name, there are actually a couple of other options to choose from. Whether you like the familiarity of a name or the cold-blooded distance of a brand, there's something here for you.

  • Alexa
  • Amazon
  • Echo
  • Computer

{{ amazon name="Amazon Echo", asin="B00X4WHP5E", align="right" }}

How to change measurement units

  1. Go to the Alexa mobile app or go to alexa.amazon.com
  2. Scroll down to the bottom until you see "Temperature Units" and "Distance Units"
  3. Slide the toggle to the On position for metric measurements

How to remove official devices from Alexa

  1. Go to the Alexa mobile app or go to alexa.amazon.com
  2. Click on Settings
  3. Click on the name of the device
  4. You should see a Deregister button near your name. Click that and confirm

{{ amazon name="Echo Dot (2nd Gen.)", asin="B01DFKC2SO", align="right" }}

How to remove unofficial devices from Alexa

It's a little bit trickier to remove DIY products or other unofficial hardware. Luckily, thanks to our friends at CNET, it actually seems to be a pretty simple process.

  1. Login to amazon.com
  2. Hover over Accounts & Lists and click Manage Your Content and Devices
  3. Click to open the "Your Devices" tab
  4. Click on the ...* button to the left of the device you want to remove and click Deregister
  5. Click that again to confirm

{{ brightcove '5121858994001' }}