What if you have two houses and want to make them both smart homes? So you think you can get two Amazon Echo devices installed in each house and have two Amazon accounts
But the fact is that having two accounts and controlling the smart devices by switching between the accounts not only makes the whole process complicated and expensive.
With two accounts, you have to pay double the amount.
The good news is that you can control the appliances in both houses with just one Amazon Alexa app. The concept is exciting so let us get started on making this possible.
Further reading: What Is Alexa And What Does Alexa Do?
Get two Amazon Echo speakers
You can even get two Echo speakers in a single house for the benefits this offers. For one, it might be difficult to hear the response from the speaker if you are far away from it.
Echo is good at picking your voice commands even if you are at a distance. But hearing the replay can be difficult.
Secondly, you may want to hear different music in different rooms, which can be made easy by having an Echo in each room.
Let’s get into that since we are talking about having two Echo devices in two houses.
The first step to using the same Alexa in two houses is to purchase two Amazon Echo speakers (if you haven’t already), one for each house.
You can then connect the smart devices to the Amazon app. At this point, remember to give unique names to all the devices so that the voice assistant Alexa does not get confused.
Luckily, all the smart devices available these days are Alexa compatible and work just fine with her. Connecting the Echo devices is usually simple, and no connectivity issues occur.
These devices have provision for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, but for smart devices, Wi-Fi is used.
Installing the Echo devices
If you already use an Echo device, you might know how to install it. Connecting it to the power outlet and linking it to the home network is pretty simple.
Once this is done, you can control all other smart appliances with your voice by first connecting it to the Alexa app. Read how to link an Echo device to your home network.
- Connect the Echo device to the power outlet
- Open the Alexa app on your mobile device
- In the menu, select More and go to Add a Device
- Select the Echo device and follow the instructions to connect the device to Wi-Fi
Read how to connect the Echo device to the smart devices at home.
- Ensure that the smart device is connected to a power source and switched on
- Open the Alexa app and press the ‘+’ seen on the top right
- From the pop-up menu, select Add Device
- Select what device you want to link and click Next
Now the Alexa app will require you to either download the barcode for the device before setting it up or scan the barcode from the product box.
Once the process of configuring is completed, you can add the device to a group. As you plan to use Alexa for two houses, you can create groups for each house and assign devices.
You may also like: Can You Connect 2 Phones To Alexa
Using Alexa for two houses
Alexa offers the advantage of linking to multiple speakers simultaneously. This is why you can use the same Amazon account in two houses.
While configuring, all the devices are given unique names so that when you give voice commands to Alexa, she manipulates the right device. This way, controlling the devices in two houses with Alexa devices becomes easier than in one house.
Suppose you are in one house and you have to switch off the lights in the other house or do some other chore. You need not move and still have Alexa accomplish the task for you. All you have to do is give voice commands with the specific names of the smart devices.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you have 2 Echo devices in two houses?
Yes, you can have two Echo devices in two houses and still connect them to the same Alexa app.
There is also a way to add more than one Amazon account to the Echo device. So if you have different Amazon accounts, each Echo device can be connected to a different Amazon account.
How can you link multiple accounts on an Echo device?
Yes, one Echo device can be linked to multiple Amazon accounts. To do this, open the Amazon app and press the menu on the top left.
Now press Settings and select Manage your Amazon Household under Account.
How to add an Echo device to Alexa?
First, ensure that the Echo device is connected to a power source. Now open the Alexa app and press the Menu icon on the top left.
Go to Settings and select Set Up A New device.
Press on the type of Echo device you are configuring, pick a language and follow the instructions to link it to Alexa.
Can you play music on two Echo devices at the same time?
You can choose to play the same music in your rooms or different music in different rooms simultaneously.
This is possible if you have Echo devices in each room. You can make groups with two or more Echo devices and designate the rooms to whatever group you want. It will then be easy to play music by selecting a group.
Controlling a second house is made so simple, thanks to Amazon Alexa.
So the virtual assistant does not know that you are giving commands to take care of smart devices in a different location.
This is the beauty of the whole smart home concept.
Everything works so perfectly that you can take care of both your houses simultaneously.