Amazon Echo and Virtual Switches stopped working

[JDRoberts]

Some new naming quirks on the Echo side this week made some previously acceptable switch names unusable, including Netflx and Hulu. .(hmmmm…)

There are some possible workarounds.

One) use an echo group (created through the Amazon app, not the SmartThings app) that echo will accept. You don’t have to change anything else, and you can just use trial and error to find one that you like that echo will accept. For example, it appears that “Flicks” will work, although “Flix” and “Netflix” don’t.

More discussion in the naming quirks thread:

Echo Naming Quirks

Please add more as you find them. echo does not do well with device names that include numbers, like "kitchen 1." If you have a device with a name like this, and you don’t want to change it because you like having that name for your smartthings dashboard, then just put the device into an echo group of one and give it a group name that echo does like. Echo does not like the group name “everything.” Some possible alternatives include “house” or “all devices” Echo will always accept “turn on” or “switch on.” Iris has a list of 20 “basic” command formats for switches and thermostats that echo should always accept (although using a rigid command format sort of defeats the purpose of having echo’s natural language skills). But at least you could use these to test a particular prob…

If the problem is on the smartthings side, this won’t help. But if you just run into one of the new reserved words, it will.

2. use IFTTT with Alexa as the If and harmony as the That. This still works, you can say “Alexa, trigger Netflix” and echo will take it. But you do have to include the “trigger” phrase, and some people don’t like that.

3. use the free app Yonomi to connect echo and harmony. This has the same name and quirks issues as 1), but it takes,smartthings out of the picture. So if you run into problems with both a new echo reserved word and some issue on the SmartThings side, you can resolve it this way. Some people find that yonomi runs faster then IFTTT, others find it about the same.