You spent hours setting up all your smart devices, assigning them to different voice commands and routines. Since you want to control them independently based on their location (for instance, your bedroom, living room, and guest room), you use separate accounts and groups. However, despite your efforts, Alexa continues to auto-discover all devices around you.
Here are 5 ways to stop Alexa from auto discovering devices:
- Remove the relevant smart home skills from the Alexa app.
- Remove the relevant smart home skills from the Alexa site.
- Remove the smart devices from the Alexa app.
- Remove the smart devices from the Alexa site.
- Remove the smart home device from the manufacturer app.
Today, you’ll learn about these various ways to disable Alexa’s auto-discovery feature. In addition, you’ll find out what to do when Alexa rediscovers devices you deleted from its list.
1. Remove the Relevant Smart Home Skills From the Alexa App
You can stop Alexa from auto discovering devices by removing the relevant smart home skills from your Amazon Alexa app.
Smart home skills are what Alexa uses to auto-discover nearby devices. For instance, if you get smart lights from Philips and install them in your bedroom and kitchen, Alexa may name them ‘Lights.’
However, it can be frustrating when Alexa auto-discovers devices as it tends to use a similar naming scheme for devices from the same manufacturer. So, if you ask Alexa to turn on the lights, it won’t execute your voice command as it doesn’t know which ‘Light’ you’re referring to.
Removing smart home skills prevents Alexa from auto-discovering all devices from a specific manufacturer.
Here are two ways to disable auto-discovery by removing the relevant smart home skills from your Amazon Alexa app:
Method 1
- Open the Amazon Alexa app.
- Tap on ‘Devices,’ located on the bottom navigation bar.
- Scroll down until you find ‘Your Smart Home Skills.’
- Select the ‘Smart Home Skill’ you want to remove from Alexa.
- Tap on ‘Disable Skill.’
- Go over the warning message before you disable the skill.
Method 2
- Open the Amazon Alexa app.
- Select ‘More,’ located on the bottom navigation bar.
- Tap on ‘Skills & Games.’
- Navigate to ‘Your Skills’ tab.
- Tap on the ‘Smart Home Skill’ you want to disable.
- Select ‘Disable Skill.’
- Go through the warning message before proceeding.
2. Remove the Relevant Smart Home Skills From the Alexa Site
The Amazon Alexa website is another way to access your digital assistant. However, it doesn’t contain all the features nor support every Amazon appliance. Only the Amazon Alexa app offers complete functionality.
Follow these steps to disable auto-discovery by removing the relevant smart home skills using the Amazon Alexa website:
- Visit alexa.amazon.com.
- Log in to your Amazon account.
- Select ‘Skills’ from the side navigation bar on the screen’s left section.
- Choose ‘Your Skills,’ which you’ll find on the top right portion of the website.
- Find the ‘Smart Home Skill’ you want to remove.
- Select ‘Disable Skill,’ located on the top right section of the website.
- Read the warning message before disabling the skill.
Keep in mind that removing a ‘Smart Home Skill’ disables all your devices using this skill.
After removing the ‘Smart Home Skill,’ check whether Alexa picks up the devices again by switching the digital assistant off. If they continue appearing after you turn Alexa on, try hiding the appliances from your smart assistant by using either of the following techniques.
3. Remove the Smart Devices From the Alexa App
Another way to disable auto-discovery is to remove the smart devices from the Amazon Alexa app. However, the smart assistant may continue to rediscover the appliances unless you remove them from the manufacturer’s app.
Removing smart devices from Alexa is a great way to troubleshoot any issue you have with these gadgets. If you want to go this route, follow these steps below:
- Open the Amazon Alexa app.
- Select ‘Devices’ from the bottom navigation bar.
- Tap on the category associated with your smart devices, such as ‘Echo & Alexa, Lights, or All Devices.’
- Tap on the smart device you want to remove.
- Select the settings icon located on the top right of the screen.
- If you want to delete the appliance, tap the trash icon on the top right of the screen.
You can tap on the enabled option to toggle it off for temporary removal - Go through the warning message before selecting delete.
4. Remove the Smart Devices From the Alexa Site
If removing the smart devices from the Amazon Alexa app doesn’t work, you can always visit the Amazon Alexa website and make the change there.
Here’s how to remove smart devices using the website:
- Visit the Amazon Alexa website.
- Enter your login details for your Amazon account.
- Select ‘Smart Home’ from the side navigation bar on the website’s left section.
- Choose ‘Devices.’
- Find the smart device and select remove, which you’ll find at the end of the device’s name.
- Read the warning message before you remove it from your digital assistant.
5. Remove the Smart Home Device From the Manufacturer’s App
After you’ve removed all the devices you don’t want Alexa to discover, you might still find that the digital assistant will pick them up again.
The only way to prevent Alexa from discovering a removed device is to delete the smart home device from the manufacturer’s app.
Keep in mind that if you remove a smart home device, you may have to factory reset it if you want to connect it to other digital assistants. You’ll lose all your settings if you’ve already set it up. So take a screenshot or note it down before proceeding with this procedure.
To factory reset your smart appliance, you must go through the manufacturer’s user manual. If you don’t have one (or lost it), you can always do a simple search online.
However, suppose you don’t want to remove the device from the manufacturer’s app. In that case, deleting the ‘Smart Home Skill’ associated with the appliance is your safest bet to prevent Alexa from rediscovering the device.
Conclusion
If Alexa is auto-discovering nearby devices, the best solution is to remove the associated ‘Smart Home Skill’ from the app or the website. You can also remove the appliance from the digital assistant’s list of devices.
However, Alexa will rediscover your smart equipment unless you delete the devices from the manufacturers’ app. Note that if you remove a device from the manufacturer’s app, you’ll have to factory reset it before you can use it with other digital assistants.