The Amazon Alexa app has just received a much-needed upgrade for a better user experience. Amazon has announced that the Alexa Map View feature is now available in preview on select devices to make it easier to control. Smart home devices.
If you’ve ever used the Alexa mobile app to control your smart home, you’ve probably noticed that it can be a tedious experience. Scrolling through a list of dozens of randomly named devices to find the one I need does not create a friendly user interface. The map view can change that.
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“Even I struggle with this. Scrolling through a long list to find this device that I can’t remember,” explained Charlie French, director of smart home at Amazon, during the first Map View announcements of the company in September. “We knew we had to make things easier.”
Map View is a visual overview of your home, where smart devices connected to Alexa are easily accessible. Using the Alexa app, consumers can create a map of the rooms in their home and then drag and drop each smart device to its respective location, making it easy to find the device they need in less than time.
The map view will only be available on certain devices. In a preview interview with ZDNET, French explained that LiDAR-enabled iOS devices are necessary for the part scanning process that creates the map. At that time, only iPhone 12 Pro And Pro Max, 13 Pro And Pro Max, 14 Pro And Pro Max, 15 Pro And Pro MaxAnd iPad Pro (4th generation or newer) will be able to use Map View in the Alexa app.
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I’ve been waiting for Amazon to improve the Alexa app for a long time. I told French that I have at least two smart plugs connected somewhere and working, but I have no idea what their names are, which effectively makes them “lost.” My husband woke me from a dead sleep at least three times by mistakenly turning my bedside lamp on 100% while he was trying to turn on a light bulb in the living room.
How to use Map View on Amazon Alexa
What you will need: The Amazon Alexa app with all compatible smart devices added and a compatible Apple device.
Open the Amazon Alexa app on your iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max or later or iPad Pro 4th generation or later.
Tap Devices at the bottom of your screen on the Alexa app.
Tap the pin icon in the upper right corner of the Devices screen. This is where you will access the Map view after setting it up.
The first time you access the Card view, you will be introduced to the feature with a few slides. These introductory pages explain what Map View is, that it’s a new Alexa feature only available in the United States, how you’ll use your phone to create 3D models of each room, and some privacy information .
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Tap “Next” at the bottom of the screen for each one.
Select the floor you are scanning first. I chose the first floor because I started with the home office downstairs.
The app will walk you through how to create your floor plans with your phone. Make sure your rooms are well lit, to capture every floor-to-ceiling wall and all furniture, and only scan one room or area at a time.
You can always edit these maps later and even separate areas in an open floor plan.
Start scanning your room with your phone. Move your device to capture the area with your camera, then move and turn to make sure it scans the entire room.
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Once finished, tap “Complete Room” at the top right.
Select or enter a name for your scanned part. I selected “Desk” since that’s the room I scanned.
Confirm that your room’s floor plan looks accurate. Then you can add a “New Room” or tap “All Done” to finish for now.
Find room devices in the carousel at the bottom of your screen and start adding them. Drag and drop each one and place it in the room where they are located.
You can tap Done when you’re done and start controlling the devices in your room from your map.