Restrict access to some devices by Alexa

[thrash99er (Morgan)]

In the old Alexa integration, we were able to restrict which devices were fed from SmartThings to Alexa. How do I do that with the new skill?

I have tons of duplicates showing up in Alexa because they are both part of my Hue devices and I’ve integrate those same Hue devices into SmartThings?

I can disable them in Alexa, but EVERY time there is a new discovery by an Alexa devices they show back up. This is super annoying, because Alexa won’t respond because it says there are multiple devices with the same name.

[Nezmo]

See here:

New SmartThings Alexa skill (2020)

I tweeted a bit about this, but thought it might be a good heads up for the ST nerds not on Twitter Especially since new users can no longer use the old skill. The old skill is now called “SmartThings Classic” while the new one is just “SmartThings”. If you search the Alexa skill catalog you will only find the new skill, but the old/Classic one still shows under your installed skills if you already set it up. I don’t know what SmartThings’ plans are for migration, but i thought it would be worth discussing since the skill is public and new users will be using it. Based on the lack of it appearing in the Groovy IDE and appearance in the new app, the new one uses the new APIs instead of a Groovy app. So far here’s the differences I’ve noticed and my experience: Enabling the …

[Nezmo]

@thrash99er

restrict which devices were fed from SmartThings to Alexa. How do I do that with the new skill?

Basically you cannot right now. Supposedly a change is coming to allow it but not before the old skill is retired next week.

[jlv]

@thrash99er

How do I do that with the new skill?

At the moment, still nothing.

A fix for this has been asked for hundreds of times over the last 5 months.

Updates to the SmartThings Platform

@blake.arnold @jody.albritton Please check the poll results again. [image] The majority of users care about being able to select what devices they expose to other services, for reasons such as protecting the privacy of their location and avoiding duplicates.

Get ready to make the switch!

@blake.arnold, what about the new Google and Alexa integrations? I have read plenty posts about people looking for the option to select devices which are shared with the Google Home/Alexa devices, but the new integration is lacking this option. Mostly it causing issues by duplicate devices in the respective system. It is a feature what was part of the integration previously. Is it going to be part of the new integrations as well in the near future?

[mwav3 (Tim)]

I noticed if you delete the device in Alexa, and then put the word"test" in front, or add parenthesis, other special characters, or make the name of the device really long, she won’t find it again

[Ahavelind (Apollo)]

It’s been a year now. Anyone heard any updates on getting this feature added back? (Disabling some devices from porting to Alexa).

For instance - Smart Life Ceiling fan control is not done well in SmartThings. No fan speed control. This is then ported to Alexa. Alexa direct to Smart Life does work though. I still need control for automations in SmartThings but don’t want it to port to Alexa. This way I can run the automations and still be able to control properly in Alexa. If I can’t disable the porting then I get duplicates and Alexa gets confused even if I disable.

We really need this feature brought back.

Also - I know Smart Life has its issues, but the ceiling fan control needs work in SmartThings.

Thanks

[jlv]

@Ahavelind

Anyone heard any updates on getting this feature added back?

Sadly, no.

[Adnan]

Two years now and still nothing?

[Jason_Ho]

So Alexa also banned IFTTT from their platform so tried siri shortcuts which worked. I also dug up my old logitech smart remote which utilizes harmony interface both compatible with Alexa and Smartthings. So with a little willpower i can use it as a passthrough scene between the platforms without exposing all of my smart things devices and still leverage voice control on both ecosystems.