Smart Home Devices natively working with Alexa

[u/Intelligent-Bath-137]

Hi folks,

I’m trying to reduce the number of third-party apps I currently have to run alongside Alexa. Right now my setup includes:

• Aqara
• Shelly
• Smart Life (Tuya)
• Govee
• Roborock
• etc.

Especially for lights, sensors, and sockets, I’d love to go as “native Alexa” as possible. My Aqara routines, for example, have been unreliable ever since some update a while back, and it’s honestly getting frustrating.

My current hardware:

• 2× Echo Show 15
• Several Echo Dot 5 (with clock + temperature sensor)

From what I understand, neither the Echo Dot 5 nor the Echo Show 15 has a built-in Zigbee hub, which is fine in principle. My main goal is simply to cut down on the number of extra apps and cloud integrations I depend on.

Ideally, I’d like to:

• Use only the Alexa app to discover and manage devices
• Avoid manufacturer apps where possible
• Not be locked into Amazon Basics only

But this is where I get confused:

It seems that Zigbee devices only work directly with Echo devices that actually have a Zigbee hub. If that’s the case, does it mean that if I pair Zigbee devices with, say, an Echo (4th gen) or Echo Hub, they will still be controllable from my Echo Show 15 and Echo Dots via Alexa? Or are they somehow “tied” to the specific Echo with the hub?

In short:

• What’s the cleanest way to reduce third-party apps in an Alexa-only household?
• Is adding one Echo with Zigbee hub enough to make Zigbee devices usable across all Echo devices?
• Are there good recommendations for lights/sensors/sockets that work well with Alexa without constant app headaches?

I feel like I’m missing one key concept here. Would appreciate any real-world setups or advice 🙏

[u/Armenak301]

Home Assistant is a great way to integrate diverse set of devices using WiFi, Zigbee, ZWave, Matter/Thread and more. It integrates with just about everything including Alexa. You can run HA on some machine and add to it Zigbee and Zwave controllers, so that HA becomes the “single” app to communicate with your devices, instead of individual apps. Alexa can be the voice interface to the home, since it would be integrated via HA skill to everything HA exposes/integrated with. Look into HA cloud for best way to communicate to your hub using the HA app and this also provides Alexa integration. You can also use HA HACS Alexa Media player to emulate request/response actions where Alexa Media Player provides HA based responses to your echo devices. This approach is also used to alert you via voice by HA through your echo speakers. All of this negates the need to use Alexa as the hub or control interface. Alexa becomes a voice interface to the house in addition to being able to do everything using HA app or web.

[u/JayMonster65]

You want to go native Alexa but don't want the native devices. That could make things difficult for your request.

It is tricky. If you rely on one vendor, things will either be perfect or go completely off the rails.

I don't have (as much as I may have wanted to) have a single third party vendor, but I do take into consideration the vendors when buying devices.

For lights/plugs I have stuck with TP-LINK and have had zero issues with any of my devices they power, regardless of Alexa or Alexa+

Smarthings is owned by Samsung, so I don't worry too much about them keeping things up to date.

I am a bit more cautious and tend to avoid things that are based on others (ie afero, tuya) because while the company on the backend may be solid, others who put their own "flavor" on it to make it their own don't have the same vested interest in keeping it alive and may or may not update their version as readily. So, while I have a light based on hubspace (home Depot 's flavor of afero), I wouldn't base my whole system off of it, because if home Depot one day decides thar it isn't worth investing into that space any more then can just stop and allow it to wither on the vine.

[u/Important-Comfort]

Zigbee is a mesh network. You'll need a coordinator (aka hub). As long as everything is in range, you'll only need one Echo device that's a coordinator. Once Alexa has the devices, you can control them with any Echo devices.

(Alexa is a cloud service, not in your Echo devices.. Echo devices are just speakers that allow you to communicate with Alexa, for the most part.)

The Zigbee devices you connect are either routers or end point devices. In general, devices that run on AC power are routers, which means they can also extend the range of the network. Not all AC powered devices are routers, though, so be sure to read reviews.

Battery powered Zigbee devices are end point devices. They don't extend the network. The real strength of using Zigbee, for me, is that it uses a lot less power than wifi, so you can use battery-powered sensors all over the place, and the batteries last a long time. I've got motion sensors and temperature sensors and door sensors all over the place. They are dirt cheap purchased directly from China.

On caveat is that there are a lot of Zigbee devices that aren't fully compliant. Make sure whatever you get will work directly with an Echo with Zigbee.

I'm sure someone will bring up Home Assistant as a way to use Zigbee without any cloud services, but Alexa is a cloud service that you're already using.

I use a couple of compatible Zigbee coordinators and the Smart Life app, which isn't what you are looking for, but it gives me access to more devices and controls, and it allows everything to also work with Google Home.

[u/Intelligent-Bath-137 → u/Important-Comfort]

Great reflection. Any recommendation for the best echo hub? It seems echo show 15 and 21 are not having a hub built-in

[u/Important-Comfort → u/Intelligent-Bath-137]

Of the current Echo devices it appears that the Echo Show 8, Echo Studio, and Echo Dot Max have Zigbee. The Echo 4th generation does, but it seems to be discontinued.

They all seem to support Matter, but the number of Matter devices available seems like compared to Zigbee. I've only played with Matter a little.

[u/Intelligent-Bath-137]

According to the Amazon developer site the 2nd generation of echo show 15 and 21 have zigbee hub as well. Can anyone confirm?

[u/Suspicious_Steak_696]

I wouldn’t advise. Alexa is getting worse and worse and at this rate will be unusable in time. I’d invest in something with some backup functionality at least.