

While it can be a little fiddly getting it set up, once you’ve got your Routines going, they can really make your life easier and save you a lot of time. That way, you don’t need to worry about shutting things down before you head off to work. For example, if you know that you’re always out of the house within an hour of waking up, you can set your Routine so that everything that has been switched on is turned off again an hour later.

Routines are generally set to operate at a specific time, but they’re actually pretty flexible if you want to do something more in depth, like turning things off after they’ve been on for a specific time. You can use these routines to do all sorts of things, from playing your favorite music and slowly turning up the lights to help you wake up, to brewing an espresso when you walk in your front door. You program these in to your Alexa app, setting up a list of instructions that the assistant will follow. How Does It All Work?Īs mentioned above, the bread and butter of your home automation is achieved by using what Amazon calls Routines. It can be used to switch devices that aren’t smart themselves, on or off by a voice command, or at the behest of a Routine that you’ve set up. One of the more recent additions to their range is the Smart Plug. These smart devices are usually controlled by an AI assistant, and it’s the same with Amazon’s Smart Home ecosystem, Alexa will be at your beck and call.
