Control multiple lights with one voice command with Alexa!
Group light bulbs in one lamp or group all the lights in a room. The smart home groups feature in the Alexa App is perfect for making your voice lighting control even better.Use this guide to easily create your Alexa light group.
Why Should I Create an Alexa Light Group?
In short, confusing smart light names. Do you have several smart light bulbs with names such as this?
- Family Room Light 1, Family Room Light 2, Family Room Light 3
- Lamp 1, Lamp 2
- Right Side Lamp, Left Side Lamp
- Susan’s Lamp, Jason’s Lamp
These names make perfect sense to identify and group the lights together. However, these names are horrible for controlling the lights by voice with your Amazon Echo. Most of the time, you want to control the group of lights instead of each light individually. That is exactly why you need to create light groups in the Alexa app.
You can easily combine lights such as ‘Lamp 1’ and ‘Lamp 2’ into a group called ‘Lamps’ to control both lights with one voice command.
You can easily combine lights such as ‘Lamp 1’ and ‘Lamp 2’ into a group called ‘Lamps’ to control both lights with one voice command. Once you create the group, you can turn the lights on or off, set the dim level, or change the color of the entire group of lights.
Alexa Light Groups: What do You Need?
This is a simple project that only requires two products:
1. Amazon Echo Device – There are several Amazon Echo devices to choose from. Learn how you can use the Amazon Echo in your smart home or check the price on Amazon below.
| Alexa Device | Description | Best For | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-new Echo Dot (4th Gen) | Smart speaker with clock and Alexa | Glacier White | Modern styling to add smart home voice control throughout your home. | Amazon Price | |
| Echo Dot (3rd Gen) - Smart speaker with Alexa - Charcoal | Adding smart home voice control in all rooms. | Amazon Price | |
| Echo (3rd Gen)- Smart speaker with Alexa- Charcoal | Larger rooms where you want better sound. | Amazon Price | |
| Introducing Echo Show 8 - HD 8" smart display with Alexa - Charcoal | Kitchens and bedrooms to see recipes and security cameras. | Amazon Price | |
| Echo Plus (2nd Gen) - Premium sound with built-in smart home hub - Charcoal | Entry level smart home controller built-in. | Amazon Price | |
| Introducing Echo Flex - Plug-in mini smart speaker with Alexa | Bathrooms and kitchen counter plugs. | Amazon Price |
2. Smart light switch or smart light bulbs
If you have an Amazon Echo device but not the lights, then I suggest that you check out the Philips Hue Hub. Voice control over your lights is one of the greatest conveniences of your smart home. The Philips Hue product line contains multiple size light bulbs that you can quickly set up and control with your voice. I use these products and I recommend them for your smart home too.
- WHATS IN THE BOX: Each kit contains 3 Philips Hue White A19 60W LED Smart bulbs (able to fit most lamps, overhead lights, and 4-inch recessed cans ); Philips Hue hub that can reliably control up to 50 Hue lights without slowing your Wi-Fi; and one Smart Button with mounting plates
- VOICE ACTIVATED: By using the Hue Hub, these Smart Bulbs connect to your favorite smart home devices like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, or Google Assistant for the ultimate smart home experience
- EASY & VERSATILE: The Hue Smart button is easy to use and install. Equipped with magnets, tape, and a wall bracket, the button can be placed in multiple locations in multiple ways. No hard-wiring required. Control your lights without touching your smart phone.
Once you have your Hue and Alexa products setup and connected, you are ready to create and control your Alexa light group.
Let’s get started!
Create a Light Group in the Amazon Alexa App
Follow the simple steps below to create an Alexa Light Group in your home.
Step 1: Navigate to the ‘Smart Home’ section in the Alexa menu
Select ‘Devices’ in the bottom right corner of the Alexa app. This will open the ‘Smart Home’ section in the Alexa App menu.
Step 2: Select the ‘Plus’ (+) sign and click ‘Add Group’
Add a new group that will contain your lights.
Step 3: Create a Smart Home Group with a Custom Name
The Alexa App has a list of common names for rooms. In this case, we are creating a custom Alexa light group that is not related to a room. Choose a name that is natural to speak. This is the name that you will use to control the lights with Alexa.
Step 4: Choose the lights to add to your group
Scroll down to the Alexa devices and choose as many lights as you want in your light group and click save. There is a blue check mark next to each light you select for the group.
Step 5: Review and Edit Your Alexa Smart Home Group
You will see your newly created Alexa light group in the ‘Groups’ area within the smart home ‘Devices’ section of the app. You can click on the group name to see the lights within the group. Additionally, the app allows you to control the lights in the group. Click ‘Edit’ in the upper corner if you want to change the devices in the group.
Controlling Alexa Light Groups
Now that the group is created, you can control the group of lights with the same voice commands as any individual light.
How I Use Light Groups in My Smart Home
There are three primary ways I use Alexa light groups in my home.
- Light Pairs – For example, lamps on the left and right side of the bed. Lamps on each side of the couch. Recessed lights that are specific to an area such as over the fireplace.
- Lights with Multiple Bulbs – For example, lamps or ceiling lights that contain multiple light bulbs. If you use smart bulbs then you will want to create a group for them.
- Rooms or Locations – All the lights in a certain room or location. For example, all the lights outside.
The common theme is that these are lights you want to control in a group. You always have the option to control each light or light bulb individually, but in most cases you will want to control the devices together.
Alexa Smart Plug Controls
Are you having issues controlling a smart plug in your light group? If so, then one of your smart plugs might be classified as a “Plug” in the Alexa app instead of a “Light”.
You can check or change the device type here:
- Click the gear settings icon in the upper right corner of the device screen for each of your plugs
- Click Type in the middle of the screen
- Make sure the smart plug is classified as a Light
Changing the Smart Plug to a light in the Alexa app will allow you to control them by simply saying “turn on the lights”.
What else can I do with Alexa Lights?
The Amazon Echo devices give you a lot of options to control your smart home lights with your voice. Here are some other guides on controlling lights by voice with Alexa:
- Create Context Aware Lights – Just say “turn on lights” and Alexa knows which lights you want to turn on (THIS IS A MUST).
- Create Custom Routines – Your own custom voice commands to control lights with Alexa routines.
- WHATS IN THE BOX: Each kit contains 3 Philips Hue White A19 60W LED Smart bulbs (able to fit most lamps, overhead lights, and 4-inch recessed cans ); Philips Hue hub that can reliably control up to 50 Hue lights without slowing your Wi-Fi; and one Smart Button with mounting plates
- VOICE ACTIVATED: By using the Hue Hub, these Smart Bulbs connect to your favorite smart home devices like Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, or Google Assistant for the ultimate smart home experience
- EASY & VERSATILE: The Hue Smart button is easy to use and install. Equipped with magnets, tape, and a wall bracket, the button can be placed in multiple locations in multiple ways. No hard-wiring required. Control your lights without touching your smart phone.
- SCHEDULE YOUR OWN CUSTOM LIGHT SCENES: With the Philips Hue App you can set routines to help you feel energized in the morning, have your lights detect when you arrive home, or turn the smart lights off gradually as you head to bed.
- EXPAND YOUR PHILIPS HUE ECOSYSTEM: You can easily expand on your starter kit when you purchase other Hue light points & accessories. Try adding a Hue Tap switch for control without touching your smart phone. Add a Hue Play to set the perfect scene for your next binge-worthy show.
Alexa is also great for music. Check out the best speakers for your Echo Dot.
P.S. Please leave a comment below to ask a question, help someone else or share your experiences. Thanks!
f anyone could help me solve this it would be AMAZING!
I just bought 8 Philips Hue G10 spot bulbs for my kitchen. All installed, connected and controllable via the Hue app. Great start.
Alexa is our virtual assistant of choice so fired up the Alexa app and created a Group called “Kitchen” and added all 8 of the spots.
Tested with “Alexa, turn the kitchen lights off”. Off they went.
“Alexa, turn the kitchen lights on”. On they went.
“Alexa, dim the kitchen lights”. Alexa responds “Kitchen lights doesn’t support that”. That’s weird!
I have another Group “All Hue lights” with, you guessed it, all of my Hue lights in including the new kitchen lights.
“Alexa, dim all the lights” All of the lights, including the ones in the kitchen, dim!
I’ve tried renaming the kitchen group to something random but same result. It’s really annoying!
Any suggestions would be thankfully received.
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
I have experimented and tried a few things, but I can’t replicate this issue exactly. You said the group is named “Kitchen”. Will it work if you simply say “dim Kitchen” instead of “dim kitchen lights”?
Do I have to have two smart color light bulbs in both sockets that is on my ceiling in my bedroom to to get Alexa turn off lights?
Hi Tanya,
You need two smart light bulbs (color or not) unless you use a smart switch on the wall. There are a lot of wifi based smart switches that work with Alexa. With a smart switch you can use any light bulbs (smart or not).
Jason
Hello,
I have followed all your steps perfectly, yet my Alexa only turns the one light on in the kitchen, when it says there is two kitchen lights grouped together. How do I fix this?
Hi Destini,
Check that each light works individually first. If you are using a plug to control one of the lights then make sure the plug type is switched to “Light” in the settings. Otherwise it won’t follow the command to turn on the lights.
Jason
Thank you for this post. I am, however, still a little confused on one aspect (says more about me I appreciate!). I have 6 lamps in my room and would like to be able to command them from Alexa in one go. I would prefer, however, not to have the cost and hassle of a hub. I was hoping to simply buy 6 smart bulbs, insert them and pair to Alexa; I presume individually initially and then by creating a Light Group. I would then look to do the same thing for the two bedrooms. Is that possible if I buy some of the many smart bulbs (colour/dimmable) that I see advertised on Amazon? Many thanks and sorry for my ignorance!
Hi Steve,
What you want to do will work. There are several smart light bulbs that connect with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth that don’t need a hub. Just make sure you buy lights that are compatible with Alexa. Once the lights are discovered by Alexa, you can group them together so they all turn on/off with a single command to Alexa.
Jason