Ask Dave Taylor
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Most Popular
  • Top Categories
  • Books
  • About Dave
  • Ask Me
  • > Donate <
  • Home
  • Amazon Echo & Kindle Help
  • Pair your Smartphone with an Amazon Echo?

Pair your Smartphone with an Amazon Echo?

August 5, 2017 / Dave Taylor / Amazon Echo & Kindle Help, Android Help, iPhone Help / 1 Comment

I want to be able to use my Amazon Echo as a speaker for music coming from my iPhone. Is that even possible via Bluetooth?

The Amazon Echo is a remarkably flexible device, whether you have a big Amazon Echo or a tiny Amazon Dot. It’s so flexible that sometimes it can be quite complicated to figure out how to work with it, and pairing via bluetooth is one of the most confusing of its capabilities. The problem is that bluetooth works with a “source” and “receiver” model, and your Echo, Tap or Dot can be either in that chain.

In other words, you can pair your Amazon Echo with a bluetooth speaker if you want, and you can also use it as a bluetooth speaker with the music source coming from any device that can serve as a bluetooth source. This includes not only your smartphone – Android or iPhone – but also your computer too!

Which leads to all the confusion.

The other thing that can be tricky is to remember that you won’t be saying anything, you won’t be telling your Echo what to do for this process, it’s all about working within the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone.

Let’s start by opening up the Amazon Alexa app on my iPhone:

amazon alexa app, amazon echo

You can see the most recent commands – listening to The Alan Parsons Project and, before that, asking about the weather in Boulder, Colorado – but more importantly, notice the three horizontal lines on the top left. I’ve highlighted it with a red box in the screenshot to make it easier to find.

Tap on it. You’re now in the main menu.

Choose “Settings” and you’ll see a list of all your Amazon Echo devices:

amazon alexa devices list

I have quite a few, but for this demo, I’ll pair my Apple iPhone 7 with the Amazon Dot in my bedroom called “Master Bedroom”. To do that, tap on the device name.

amazon alexa echo device settings

Lots of options, actually, but since we’re pairing bluetooth I’ll want to tap on the “Bluetooth” entry. That reveals a list of known Bluetooth source devices:

amazon alexa echo dot tap bluetooth source devices list

The entry “iDave 7” is my iPhone, so it’s easy: a tap and it’s paired. But what if my iPhone wasn’t paired or I wanted to use a source that wasn’t listed here? Then tap on “Pair a New Device“, the blue button near the bottom.

It’ll then show you a list of speakers you can pair the Amazon Echo device with:

bluetooth speakers pair amazon echo alexa dot tap

Here’s where it gets confusing: These are options if you want to have the Amazon Echo be the source for audio content. You want it to be the receiver, however, so leave this screen as-is and tap on the home button on your iPhone (or the Android equivalent) to get back to the main home screen. Then choose the Settings app and go into Bluetooth.

Now look for bluetooth devices you can pair with on the smartphone. On the iPhone, it’ll look like this:

apple iphone 7 ios 10 pair bluetooth device amazon echo alexa

It’s on the bottom – Echo-12U – while all the others are different speakers, headphones and other devices that my iPhone has paired with at some point or other. I have a lot, I know. 🙂

Tap on the Echo device here in the bluetooth settings and give it a few seconds to make the connection. Sometimes I find I have to do it 2-3 times for it to work, so if it fails the first time, well, you know the cliché, right?

Eventually it’ll move from the “OTHER DEVICES” section at the bottom into your list of all known bluetooth devices. And it should say “Connected”, as shown:

amazon echo alexa dot tap connected bluetooth paired android apple iphone

If it doesn’t say “Connected” tap on it and let it try again. Eventually it should work!

Now double-tap the home button or otherwise move back to the Amazon Alexa app and your phone will show up as a previously paired device and should have the little blue bluetooth icon to show it’s currently paired with your Amazon Echo, Amazon Tap or Amazon Dot:

amazon alexa echo dot tap paired smartphone iphone android

Play some audio on your iPhone or Android phone and it’ll come out of the Amazon Echo speaker!

Cool, eh? That’s how I listen to my own iTunes music on the Echo without worrying about how to have Amazon and Apple corporate play nicely together.

Let’s Stay In Touch!

Never miss a single article, review or tutorial here on AskDaveTaylor, sign up for my fun weekly newsletter!
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please enter all required fields
Correct invalid entries
No spam, ever. Promise. Powered by FeedBlitz
Please choose a color:
Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!
amazon alexa, amazon dot, amazon echo, amazon tap, android, apple iphone, bluetooth, bluetooth pairing, pair echo android, pair echo iphone, smartphone

One comment on “Pair your Smartphone with an Amazon Echo?”

  1. Vern Bolinder says:
    October 29, 2018 at 8:46 am

    This is great information. Now how do I get “Play everywhere” to work while using the iPhone Bluetooth source?

    Thanks

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Recent Posts

  • Can I Have Microsoft Edge Suggest Strong Passwords?
  • How Can I Password Protect Tax Forms Sent Via Email?
  • Easy Way to Add Emoji to Tweets from a Web Browser?
  • How Do You Post Multiple Photos in Instagram?
  • How Can I Change the Default Search Engine in Google Chrome to Microsoft Bing?

On Our YouTube Channel

DIGDIY BUDGET ANC TWS Earbuds [D10WH] -- REVIEW

Rush Charge Hinged Smartphone Battery Stand -- UNBOXING & REVIEW

Categories

  • AdSense, AdWords and PPC Help (106)
  • Amazon Echo & Kindle Help (79)
  • Amazon, eBay and Online Shopping Help (157)
  • Android Help (158)
  • Apple Watch Help (49)
  • Articles, Tutorials and Reviews (326)
  • Business Advice (191)
  • Computer and Internet Basics (714)
  • d) None of the Above (160)
  • Facebook Help (364)
  • Google & Gmail Help (154)
  • HTML and Web Design (243)
  • Instagram Help (43)
  • iPad Help (136)
  • iPhone Help (570)
  • LinkedIn Help (79)
  • Linux Help (147)
  • Linux Shell Script Programming (86)
  • Mac & MacOS Help (830)
  • Most Popular (10)
  • MP3 Player Help (181)
  • Outlook & Office 365 Help (9)
  • PayPal Help (68)
  • Pinterest Help (53)
  • Reddit Help (11)
  • SEO & Marketing (80)
  • Spam, Scams & Security (82)
  • Trade Show Updates (23)
  • Twitter Help (212)
  • Video Game Tips (66)
  • Web Site Traffic Tips (62)
  • Windows 10 Help (825)
  • Wordpress Help (201)
  • Writing and Publishing (72)
  • YouTube Help (43)
  • YouTube Video Reviews (159)
  • Zoom, Skype & Video Chat Help (40)

Archives

Social Connections:

Ask Dave Taylor


Follow Me on Pinterest
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on LinkedIn
Follow me on Instagram


AskDaveTaylor on Facebook



microsoft insider mvp


This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this site or on any linked site. Further, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to our terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site. Our lawyer says "Thanks for your cooperation."
© 2020 by Dave Taylor. "Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.
Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions - Accessibility Policy