[APP][Pro] Amazon Echo - Looking for testers and contributors

Apps
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Amazon Echo - Your Home, Your Assistant, Always Ready

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DISCLAIMER: This still a very early test version and things might not work properly and you might experience crashes or unintended behaviors. I will try my best to fix any reported errors but using this app is at your own risk.

I just released a open source alternative to using your Amazon Echo devices with Homey as a test version to the Homey App Store. The app is built in such a way that all current and future Echo devices should be supported (as long as Amazon does not change their API). If your device icon does not show up correctly let me know, it’s most likely a unknown model identifier which I need to add.

Get Started
Simply install the app and login to your Amazon account via the settings. And then add our Echo devices.

Current Features

  • Volume Control
  • Playback Control - Play, Pause, Next, Previous, Shuffle, Repeat
  • Speak - Whisper, Say, Announce
  • Play Sounds
  • Run Routines
  • Ask a Text Command (= “Alexa, xxx”)

I explicitly want to keep the app somewhat simple and not support every Alexa enabled device in existence, but just real Amazon Echo devices. Suggestions and Github PRs are still welcome.

Test Version - Since there is no stable version yet it might be unavailable in the store between new version updates while waiting for review by Athom. As an alternative install the app from the source code.
Github Repositiory

If you like what I have created you can buy me a beer through Paypal.

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I’m looking for people willing to test this new app, as I really only have a limited number of Echo devices and can only test it via amazon.de. So please let me know if you run into any problems with some of your devices or authenticating to country specific Amazon pages.

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I will certainly install, test and let you know how I get on. I have a fleet of echos and echo dots I can test it with and am in the UK.

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Installed the app, went to add first device. I choose the device type ‘Echo’ and then when I click ‘Connect’, I straight away get the error message “Cannot read properties of undefined (reading ‘logger’)”

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Did you connect your amazon account in the app settings? But good point that I should probably add a info page if the account is not yet setup.

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Yeah just realised that, setting those now

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OK, have set up app settings and successfully added all my devices. I will give them a good test over the next day or so and let you know how it goes. Excited to see if this is more stable than the pre-existing app.

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I’m in the US and have successfully loaded/linked one of my devices, an Echo 8 (gen 1). Will test and expand capabilities.

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Just pushed a small update which should be in the store soon to make the startup a bit more stable and give a more meaning full error if the amazon account is not yet connected.

EDIT: Seems like since there is no stable version yet the test version in the store does become unavailable while waiting for approval by Athom. If someone doesn’t want to wait and know what they are doing you can always download the Github repo install it with “homey app install”

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Working generally well so far. Sometimes there are long (>1 minute in some cases) delays before a flow that finished successfully on Homey to result in the action happening on the Echo, but that was also true with the other app and presumably more to do with Amazon’s API.

I have found with the Echo Dot 2nd Gen I’ve tested with so far that the volume control cards appear to do nothing, both relative and absolute versions

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Are you by any chance playing music in a speaker group? Or only on a single device?

I noticed that if playing on a speaker group that the volume can get ignored sometimes.

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Just on a single device

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There is a WHEN card which should give you any error messages, can you hook that up to a notification to see if you get any errors when changing the volume? Also does using the “THEN Ask set volume to XX” card work?

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Ask set volume to X works (if I use numbers like 1-10). I hooked up the when card for error and then tried the normal volume control cards and for no error was triggered.

I wonder if there’s an issue translating the % values from the volume control cards to whole numbers like 1-10 that the Echo seems to want?

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For my Echo Dot 3rd Gen I have no problems with setting the volume either via card or the volume settings of the device in homey (I assume you tried that as well?). So I don’t think the conversion is the problem. Can you go into the device settings and send me the capabilities listed there?

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I see these capabilities for my echo:

WAKE_WORD_SENSITIVITY, DEREGISTER_DEVICE, GOLDFISH, EFDCARDS, EQUALIZER_CONTROLLER_TREBLE, TIMERS_AND_ALARMS, AMAZON_MUSIC, LEMUR_ALPHA, SET_TIME_ZONE, DS_VOLUME_SETTING, CHANGE_NAME, TIDAL, SUPPORTS_LOCALE_SWITCH, SUPPORTS_CONNECTED_HOME_CLOUD_ONLY, VOICE_TRAINING, SIRIUSXM, TUNE_IN, TUPLE, MULTI_WAKEWORDS_SUPPORTED, GADGETS, MUSIC_SKILL, ALEXA_NETWORKING_WIFI, ALEXA_PRESENCE, PERSISTENT_CONNECTION, SUPPORT_CALENDAR_ALERT, TAHOE_BYOD, ADAPTIVE_LISTENING, ACTIVE_AFTER_FRO, ASCENDING_ALARM_VOLUME, AUDIO_PLAYER, UPDATE_WIFI, SET_LOCALE, FLASH_BRIEFING, POPTART, ALEXA_DEVICE_REBOOT, BT_PAIRING_FLOW_V2, PANDORA, DIALOG_INTERFACE_VERSION, FAR_FIELD_WAKE_WORD, TIMERS_ALARMS_NOTIFICATIONS_VOLUME, CUSTOM_ALARM_TONE, KINDLE_BOOKS, APPLE_MUSIC, EARCONS, PAIR_BT_SOURCE, VOLUME_SETTING, MICROPHONE, FACE_TO_TALK, SALMON, I_HEART_RADIO, SUPPORTS_SOFTWARE_VERSION, LOCALIZATION, DREAM_TRAINING, ALEXA_NETWORKING, EQUALIZER_CONTROLLER_BASS, PAIR_REMOTE, ALEXA_VOICE, DEEZER, SOUND_SETTINGS, PAIR_BT_SINK, TUPLE_CATEGORY_A, REMINDERS, REQUIRES_OOBE_FOR_SETUP, AUDIBLE, GUARD_EARCON, EQUALIZER_CONTROLLER_MIDRANGE, SLEEP, AUDIO_CONTROLS, SUPPORTS_LOCALE, SPEECH_RECOGNIZER_USS

I tried changing volume on the device in Homey and that also has no effect.

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Seems normal so far, I will try to add some additional logging to the next version.

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I have submitted a version to the store which includes additional logging, I will let you know once it has passed the review.

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Thank you. In the meantime, another possible clue? I just got the error when card to fire one time while I was changing the volume (although oddly it was using an ‘Ask’ command card. which otherwise has been working) and the error was:

getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND eu-api-alexa.amazon.de

Maybe something was hard coded to amazon.de (since I am using amazon.co.uk)?

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This is more or less a generic network error, it was not able to resolve the address of server. It should only be transient and work again later. But I might need to add some additional error handling to not crash the app. As for why it uses the amazon.de is because there is only 3 api servers (us, europe+india and far east) and the europe one is on amazon.de. The other setting is simply for the login page you will see.