Color Your Smart Home with Wink and Alexa

Drum roll please. Today we’re very excited to introduce a new feature that amplifies what you can do with Wink + Amazon Alexa!

For two years now you’ve been able to dim or turn your smart lighting products on or off with a simple voice command. Now, you can take it a step further by asking Alexa to change the color or temperature of Wink-compatible colored and tunable white bulbs, including the Sylvania Smart Tunable White, Sylvania Smart RGBW and Phillips Hue lighting products.

Say any one of over one hundred commands such as “Alexa, set Living Room to Warm White” or “Alexa, make bedroom light warmer” and she’ll take care of the rest. Here are a few of our other favorites to help spark your creativity:

“Alexa, set kitchen to beige.”
“Alexa, make the living room warmer.”
“Alexa, more color.” 
“Alexa, set man cave to dodger blue.”
“Alexa, less yellow.” 
“Alexa, make the bathroom seashell.”
“Alexa, set dining room to candlelight.”

Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook as we’ll be posting the full list of commands there soon!
 

Amazon Alexa can now control Wink-compatible smart locks

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Today we’re excited to announce a brand new category of Wink-compatible products that work with Amazon Alexa: locks! 

You can now ask Alexa-enabled devices to lock any of the locks (including those from Schlage, Kwikset, and Yale) that work with Wink or check the status of a lock with a simple voice command. For security purposes, Alexa cannot be used to unlock a door at this time.

Connecting your Wink-compatible door locks to Alexa is easy:

  1. If you haven’t already, connect your locks with the Wink app and set individual names for each if you have more than one (Front Door, Back Door, etc.).
  2. Then, enable the Wink Skill within the Alexa app (Settings > Skills > Wink > Enable).
  3. Sign in with your Wink username and password.
  4. From there, say “Alexa, discover new devices.” This can take up to 20 seconds. Your locks will then appear in the Alexa app as the name you gave it in step one.

From there, just say “Alexa, lock the front door” when you’re walking in with arms full of bags after work or “Alexa is the front door locked?” after you’ve parked up on the couch. She’ll take care of the rest. 

Wink was the first smart home platform to work with Alexa when we introduced voice control for select Wink-compatible lighting products in 2015. We’ve since tripled the number of Wink-powered light bulbs and switches that work with Alexa, extended support to Wink-enabled Nest Thermostats, and are thrilled to bring compatibility to locks!

Alexa Can Now Control Wink Lighting Shortcuts

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Hey Alexa fans! Starting today, you can now control Shortcuts that include only Wink-compatible lighting products (light bulbs and switches) with a simple voice command.

Say you have a bunch of lights in the living room that you want to turn off, dim, or change the color of as you’re sitting down for a movie

  1. Set up a “Movie Time” Shortcut in the Wink app, and adjust your lighting products to the desired settings
  2. Go into the Alexa app and select “Discover devices”
  3. Your Shortcut will be discovered, and from there, you’re set!

Simply say "Alexa, turn on Movie Time" and your living room turns into your very own home theater. Go through the above steps to create a “Movie Time Over” Shortcut to change the lights back with Alexa when the movie is over by saying "Alexa, turn on Movie Time Over."

Just keep in mind that if you change the name of your Shortcut in the Wink app, you’ll need to select “Discover devices” in the Alexa app again.

Shortcuts that include non-lighting products will not be discovered by Alexa, but stay tuned, as we’re continuing to work on expanding Alexa support!

 

Wink-Enabled Nest Thermostats Now Work with Amazon Alexa

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Wink + Amazon Echo users rejoice! Today we’re very excited to announce that you can now use Alexa to control your Nest Thermostat (or Thermostats) through Wink.

Last summer we unveiled our initial integration with Amazon that enables Alexa to control Wink-compatible lighting products, and were blown away by the response. We’ve been hard at work ever since adding additional functionalities (dimming) and now, a brand new product category in thermostats.

Connecting your Nest Thermostat with Echo is easy:

  1. If you haven’t already, first set up your Nest account and name each thermostat you have (living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc.).
  2. Next, connect your Nest account with your Wink app. Your Nest Thermostat will appear in the Wink app as “[location] + [name] + [the word ‘thermostat’]. "Home Living Room Thermostat,” for example.
  3. Then, link your Wink account to Echo within the Alexa mobile app (Settings > Connected Home > Device Links > Wink). 
  4. Finally, say “Alexa, discover devices.” This can take up to 20 seconds. Your Nest Thermostat will then appear in the Alexa app as [name] i.e. “Living Room” or “Bedroom.”  

From there, you can adjust the temperature day in and day out with an easy voice command.

If you know the specific temperature you’d like your home to be, simply say: “Alexa, set [name] to [XYZ] degrees.” An example would be: “Alexa, set upstairs to 70 degrees.”

You can also adjust the temperature incrementally by saying: “Alexa, [increase or decrease] [name] by [XYZ] degrees.” An example here would be: “Alexa, increase bedroom by 3 degrees.”

In order to conserve battery life on your Nest Thermostat, Nest limits the number of interactions per hour. After the limit is reached, Alexa will respond with "Sorry, the device [your thermostat name] is not responding."

We’ll soon be connecting Alexa with other Wink-compatible thermostats so stay tuned for more!

Wink+Amazon Echo: Just ask to control smart products around your home

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UPDATE 10/26/15: Amazon Echo + Wink now supports dimming! Just ask Alexa to dim your lights by saying “Alexa, set living room light to 50%.”  Choose from over 40 lighting products from the most trusted lighting brands including Cree, EcoSmart, GE, Leviton, Lutron, OSRAM, Philips, and TCP

UPDATE 8/14/15: We've added more Wink-compatible lighting products to the Amazon Echo certified product list so you can chose the light that's right for you.  You can now control Cree, OSRAM LIGHTIFY, and TCP LEDs with Echo+Wink.  More products and features coming soon!

Amazon lovers, you’re really going to like this one... Wink is now compatible with Amazon Echo!  If you’re not familiar, Echo is a product completely designed around your voice. It’s always ready; as you say the wake word—“Alexa” or “Amazon” (most people select “Alexa”)—it springs to life. Alexa is the cloud-based voice service that powers Echo--you can ask for information, play music, get the weather, and much more.

Starting today, Echo can also control a number of Wink-compatible lighting products from GE, Leviton, and Lutron. Here’s how to get started:

  1. Connect compatible products in your Wink app and set individual names for each lighting product (bedroom lamp, kitchen light, etc.). 
  2. Then, link your Wink account to Echo within the Echo mobile app (Settings > Connected Home > Device Links > Wink).
  3. From there, say “Alexa, discover new devices.” This can take up to 20 seconds.

After that, you’re all set up. You can then turn your smart products on or off in the blink of an eye with a simple voice command to Alexa. For example, you could say “Alexa, turn on the living room lamp ” or “Alexa, turn off the kitchen light.” 

This integration gives Wink users like you yet another touchpoint through which you can easily control your smart home. And we’re just getting started! We’re excited to work with Amazon to add additional functionalities and many more Wink-compatible products down the road.

Want to learn more about Amazon Echo? Click here for more info and to purchase one today!