Customize Amazon Alexa skills for your proprietary app

An Amazon Alexa skill displays your brand identity in the Amazon Alexa Skills list. End users can search for and use your skill, which helps build your brand image and improve your competitiveness.

On the Human-Computer Interaction page in the IoT Platform console, you can check the Amazon Alexa parameter to determine whether your product is in a supported category and which of its features support Amazon Alexa voice control.

You can connect to Amazon Alexa on your own or contact us for customization. Customizing Amazon Alexa skills is a paid value-added service. For more information, see Billing. The service provides technical assistance for connecting to Amazon Alexa, including development, testing, and skill listing. The review result and time required for skill listing depend on the Amazon platform.

Preparations

• You have created a product and completed its development. For more information, see Overview.
• You have created a proprietary app, integrated the App SDK, and completed network configuration and control for the product. For more information, see Create a proprietary app and the app developer documentation.
• Your proprietary app is listed on the iOS App Store or Google Play.
• You have registered for an Amazon Alexa account and an AWS account.
• You have registered for an Amazon Developer account.
• You have enabled the Amazon Alexa connection feature and assigned it to the project that contains the product.
• On the Human-Computer Interaction page for the product, you have turned on the Amazon Alexa switch.

Request Amazon Alexa skill customization

After you complete the prerequisites, contact your dedicated account manager to fill out the Amazon Alexa skill customization request form.

After we receive the form, our technical staff will contact you to help you complete the Amazon Alexa skill customization.

Test the skill

Follow these steps to use an Amazon Echo speaker to control a device attached to your proprietary app and test the custom skill.

1. Obtain an Amazon Echo speaker. Download, install, and set up the Amazon Alexa client for your Echo speaker.
   iOS users can download the app by searching for "Amazon Alexa" in the U.S. App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play.

   To download the Alexa app in the Chinese mainland, you need an account for an app store outside of the Chinese mainland. For testing in the Chinese mainland, we recommend that you configure the service on the following web page: http://alexa.amazon.com/spa/index.html

2. Obtain a device. Use your proprietary brand app to configure its network and attach it.
3. In the Amazon Alexa client, click Skills. Find the skill you created and click ENABLE.
4. In the window that appears, enter the username and password for your proprietary app. Select the correct country for your account, and then click Link Now to link your account.
5. Discover devices.
   Before you can control a device, the Echo must discover it.

   • You can say to your Echo, "Alexa, discover devices."
   • You can also click DISCOVER on the Skill page to find devices. The devices that you have attached will appear in the list.
     Note If you change a device's nickname in your proprietary app, you must run the device discovery process again. Otherwise, you cannot control the device.
6. Use the following voice commands to control your device. The following example uses a light.
   • Turn the light on or off: Alexa, turn on/off the light.
   • Adjust the light's brightness: Alexa, brighten/dim the light.
   • Change the light's color: Alexa, set the light to yellow.
   • Adjust the light's color temperature: Alexa, set the light to warm white.