How to Pair Alexa with iPhone

This post will walk you through pairing an iPhone with the Amazon virtual assistant called Alexa. Here’s a quick guide to pair Alexa with an iPhone.

pair alexa with iphone featured

Pairing iPhone with Amazon Alexa

More and more smart devices are now supporting various types of virtual assistant technology including the popular Amazon Alexa or simply, Alexa.

Originally developed for use in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and Echo Dot, Alexa is now able to control several smart devices using itself as a home automation system.

So if you have any of the latest iOS and Android smartphones, you can use Alexa for music playback, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, voice interaction, providing weather updates, and more. Additional functionality from third-party developers are also added, augmenting Alexa’s ability including automatic speech recognition, natural language processing and other forms of AI taskers.

Apple’s new iPhone lineups can also use Alexa as an alternative to Apple’s very own virtual assistant technology, Siri. To make this happen, the iPhone must be paired with Alexa over a Bluetooth connection.

Once connected, iPhone users are all set to say specific commands such as Alexa or Alexa wake.

If you’re wondering how to use Alexa with your iPhone, this post highlights a step-by-step instruction.

Steps to Pair Alexa with iPhone

The following steps are based on the updated interface of an iPhone 13 device. If you have another iPhone that runs on the latest iOS version (iOS 15 and up), you can use the same step when pairing your iOS device with the Amazon Alexa.

Feel free to start whenever you’re all set to pair your devices.

Step 1: Enable Bluetooth on your iPhone from the settings app. 
pair alexa with iphone SETTINGS

The main method that is used when connecting iPhone with Alexa is through Bluetooth. That said, you will need to enable the iPhone’s Bluetooth feature beforehand.

  • To enable Bluetooth on your iPhone 13, just head over to Settings-> Bluetooth menu. Then, toggle to turn the Bluetooth switch ON.
Step 2: Wait for your iPhone to scan for compatible Bluetooth devices nearby.
pair alexa with iphone BT ON
Step 3: Look for Alexa from the list of available devices and then tap on it.
pair alexa with iphone ALEXA DEVICE
Step 4: If prompted, enter the Bluetooth pairing code to confirm the pairing process.

Follow the rest of the onscreen prompts until you’ll see the Pairing Successful message.

Alternatively, you can just say the phrase “Alexa! Pair” or “Alexa, Connect to (iPhone name)” so that your Alexa device will automatically initiate the Bluetooth pairing mode and start scanning for nearby devices.

After a few seconds, you’ll get a notification on your iPhone screen asking for an approval of the pairing request. Just tap Pair to confirm Bluetooth pairing on the two devices.

Once your devices are successfully paired and connected, you can start using your iPhone with your Alexa device.

If you’re pairing your iPhone with an Alexa speaker, you’ll usually hear a voice message from the Alexa device when they’re connected.

Make sure that your Alexa device is close to your iPhone, in discoverable mode and turned on. Both devices must be sufficiently charged to carry out full Bluetooth functions.

Setting Up the Amazon Alexa app on your iPhone

If you’re aiming to use the Echo smart speaker with your iPhone via Bluetooth, you’ll need to download and install the Amazon Alexa app on your iOS device.

pair alexa with iphone ALEXA APP

You can download the app from the App Store. After installing the app, follow the onscreen prompts to enable Bluetooth (if you haven’t already) on your iPhone and connect your devices.

If prompted, sign into your Amazon account the follow the rest of the onscreen prompts to finish setting up the Alexa app on your iOS device.

You can also add the Alexa widget to your iPhone Home screen if you want. This functionality was first introduced in iOS 14 and retained in later versions.

Once you’ve set up the Alexa app on your iPhone, you can pair your iPhone with any of Amazon’s smart speakers including the Amazon Echo device and Amazon Echo Dot via Bluetooth.

Just put your Alexa Bluetooth device into pairing mode so that it can be discovered by your iPhone.

Unable to Pair your iPhone with Alexa?

Both the Amazon Alexa and Apple iPhones are proven to connect seamlessly. However, there are just some instances that pairing these devices result in a failure. 

Random software errors and firmware glitches may sometimes hinder the Bluetooth pairing process. Fortunately, performing some basic tweaks serves as a remedy. 

A common tweak that is proven effective in resolving random Bluetooth pairing errors is to restart Bluetooth. To do this, just turn the Bluetooth function on your iPhone off for a few seconds and then turn it back on.

Forgetting the Bluetooth device (Alexa) and then adding it back can also help.

Another tweak that has been proven to work wonders when dealing with iOS Bluetooth pairing issues is the Airplane mode trick. 

  • To do this, just head over to your iPhone Settings-> Airplane mode menu then toggle the switch to turn Airplane mode on for about 30 seconds then turn it off again.

This is an alternative way to restart and refresh your iPhone’s Bluetooth connection, clearing out any prior flaws that might have hindered the pairing process between Alexa and your iOS device.

Also ensure that your iPhone software is up-to-date. 
  • If you haven’t enabled automatic updates on your iPhone, you can manually check for new updates by heading over to Settings-> General-> Software Update menu.
  • If a new iOS version is available, tap Download and Install then follow the rest of the onscreen instructions to finish installing the new update.
Restarting the iPhone and the Alexa device can also help clear out minor system flaws that might have adversely affected the Bluetooth pairing process.

Once you’ve managed to fix the transpiring Bluetooth pairing issue, you’ll be all set to start streaming content on your through Alexa.

And that’s how you pair your Alexa device with an iPhone. 

Please keep posted for more comprehensive iOS tutorials and troubleshooting guides on this site. Or you can check out this YouTube channel to view more comprehensive tutorial and troubleshooting videos including recent iOS devices.

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