Google and Amazon now dominate the smart speaker market. In recent years, both companies have been advancing with their technologies, making life much easier for smart home fanatics. With Amazon Alexa and Google Home getting better and better every day, consumers have a hard time deciding which virtual assistant is best for them.
Both Amazon Alexa and Google Home offer consumers endless options to interact with their smart home appliances. While Alexa comes pre-loaded with every Amazon Echo device, Google Home serves as a smart hub that works perfectly with any Google-powered devices like Nest cams, thermostats, and Chromecast.
If you wonder if Amazon Alexa and Google Home can work together to create an ultimate smart home setup, you are in a good place. We will help you find out in the section below.
What are they?
Alexa is a virtual assistant that can recognise your spoken commands and then talk back. In other ways, it can answer your questions and perform specific tasks such as controlling music playback, turning on your TV or lights, and setting your alarms.
Amazon Alexa is built directly into the Amazon Echo line of smart speakers and can do an awful lot with voice control. However, one of the best things about Alexa is the ability to work perfectly with third-party speakers like TVs and even cars.
On the other hand, Google Home is a physical smart hub with a built-in voice assistant called Google Assistant. Google Home integrates well with other Google-powered devices like Chromecast and Nest Cams to give you seamless responses to multiple commands.
Both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are excellent voice assistants and function very similar to each other. However, Alexa has its upper hand thanks to its unique sets of skills, from ordering pizzas to shopping for groceries to reading bedtime stories. If you now have a Google Home-enabled device, wondering if you can make them work together?
Can Google Home and Amazon Alexa work together?
The short answer is YES. You can connect these two devices via Bluetooth for an ultimate smart home setup. With all of them under the same command centre, you can play audio on your preferred speaker.
How to Connect Google Home to Alexa
You can pair Amazon Alexa to Google Home by following our steps below.
Step 1: Open Devices in the Alexa app and then select Add Device on the top right corner of the app.
Step 2: Scroll down until you see the “Other Device” option. Select it and then select Other Device.
Step 3: Now select Discover Devices, and you should see your Google Home device from the list. You can pair Alexa with your Google Home device using Bluetooth.
Once everything is set, try speaking a command to Alexa, and it should play through your Google Home device’s audio.
How to play music on Google Home and Alexa simultaneously.
With Alexa now connected to your Google Home device, you can play music on Google Home and Alexa together. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Open the Alexa app and select Devices.
Step 2: Select the “+” icon at the top right corner and click Combine Speakers.
Step 3: Now select Set Up Multi-Room Music to start grouping your speakers.
Step 4: Enter a name for your speaker, and then you can play audio on your grouped speakers using your voice.
Both Amazon Alexa and Google Home support various music streaming options such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, etc. So you can stream your favourite playlists on Google Home and Alexa simultaneously.
Can I have Google Home as My Smart Speaker and Alexa As a Voice Assistant?
The answer is No. If your smart speaker is a Google Home-powered device, you cannot ask Alexa to do something using your voice command. Google Home comes with a built-in Google Assistant as its virtual assistant. So you cannot say “Alexa, turn on the TV” on your Google device.
As mentioned above, you only can add your Google Home device to the Alexa app via Bluetooth so that you can play the audio from both devices onto one.
Should I Use Both Alexa and Google Home In The Same House?
Yes, having both Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices under the same roof can be exciting as they can carry out different tasks. Here are our tips so they can co-exist in your house.
Place each of your devices in a separate area in your house. It’s best to place them in different areas inside your home, so they serve different purposes and avoid competing with each other.
Rely on a third-party app as a command centre. You can use apps like IFTTT or Yeti to control all of your devices.
It’s good to know what each of them can do. There are some things Alexa can do but Google Home cannot. For instance, if you shop at Amazon, you can use Alexa to track your packages. This is something Google Home cannot do.
