Okay, so I’ve been pulling my hair out for days over this issue with Alexa. It kept discovering devices that I don’t even own, or that I had already set up and were working just fine. It was driving me nuts! I’d be sitting on the couch, and boom, “I’ve found a new device called xyz.” And I’m like, “What? I don’t have anything called xyz!”
I called Alexa phone support, and let me tell you, that was a total waste of time. They were absolutely no help at all. They just kept telling me the standard troubleshooting steps that I had already tried a million times. I was about to give up and just throw my Echo in the trash, but then I decided to give it one last shot. I spent days messing around with it, and guess what? I finally cracked the code.
Here’s what I did:
- Start Fresh with a New Email: I made a brand new email account just for my smart home stuff. I know, it sounds like a pain, but trust me, it’s worth it. I used a fresh email address that I’d never used with anything related to Amazon or Alexa before.
- Download and Install Alexa App: I downloaded the latest version of the Alexa app on my phone and signed in using my newly created email address.
- Register Devices to New Account: I went through the setup process for each of my Echo devices, but this time, I registered them under my new email.
- Get Those Manufacturer Apps: I grabbed all the apps for my smart home devices from their respective manufacturers, like the Tuya app for my smart plugs, the app for my smart light bulbs, and so on. I logged into these apps using whatever credentials I had set up for them originally.
- Reinstall Everything: This was the most time-consuming part, but it was also the most important. I basically reinstalled all of my smart home devices, as if I was setting them up for the first time. I followed the instructions in each manufacturer’s app to connect them to my Wi-Fi network and get them linked up with their respective services.
- Link Accounts in Alexa App: Finally, I went back into the Alexa app and linked all of those manufacturer accounts to my Alexa account. This allows Alexa to control the devices through those accounts.
After doing all of that, it was like magic. No more phantom devices popping up out of nowhere! It’s been a few days now, and everything is still working perfectly. It was a bit of a hassle to set everything up again, but it was definitely worth it to finally have some peace and quiet. So, if you’re having the same problem with Alexa, give this method a try. It might just save your sanity!
I noticed that Alexa kept asking me “what device?” when I tried to control something. It was super annoying. I figured it was related to the phantom device issue, and it turns out I was right. Once I got rid of those ghost devices using the steps above, Alexa started recognizing my commands correctly. So yeah, these two problems seem to be connected.