Can You Use Alexa and HomeKit Together?

Alexa and HomeKit are two rival smart home platforms from Amazon and Apple respectively. HomeKit isn’t nearly as advanced as Alexa, however, if you have an iPhone in your pocket then HomeKit is an easy choice.

If you can’t agree on which voice assistant should control your home, you’ll probably be wondering whether you can use Alexa and HomeKit together?

Yes, you can add your smart devices to more than one ecosystem which means you can control them with both Alexa and HomeKit. Providing the devices work with both platforms, you should have the same functionality no matter how you control them.

There are some watch-outs to keep in mind, for example, when setting up routines it would be best to use one app for consistency. I’ll share more on this, and other concerns, in the rest of this article.

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Using Alexa and HomeKit Together

Providing your smart home devices are compatible with both Alexa and HomeKit, you can use them with both the Apple Home app (including via Siri) and with Alexa.

This means you can still use the Home app on your iPhone and voice commands via your Echo devices. It’s also helpful if service goes down on a particular voice assistant.

Here are some top tips to keep in mind:

When setting up devices, use the same device name in both Alexa and HomeKit.

Set up the same groups of devices in both Alexa and HomeKit. This is called ‘Groups’ in Alexa, but ‘Scenes’ in HomeKit.

When creating home automations (e.g. lights come on at 7am), I recommend sticking to one app to avoid confusion. This is called ‘Routines’ in Alexa or ‘Automations’ in HomeKit.

Which Devices Support Both Alexa and HomeKit?

Here are some of my favourite smart home devices that can be used with both Alexa and HomeKit:

  • Smart Plugs – There aren’t a huge number of smart plugs that work with HomeKit, let alone ones that work with Alexa too. However, one product offering both is the Meross smart plug that is compatible with both voice assistants as well as Google Assistant.

  • Smart Bulbs – Philips Hue is the leading smart bulb brand when it comes to integrations with Alexa and HomeKit just the start of it. As these are Zigbee bulbs, you will need a Hue Bridge to get started.

  • Video Doorbell – The Arlo video doorbell is my top HomeKit video doorbell and also works with Alexa too. You can set up your Arlo doorbell to stream to an Echo Show on demand, meanwhile, you can add it to HomeKit for use in automations. You will also need the Arlo app to answer the doorbell, this is available on both Android and iPhone.

  • Smart Thermostat – It’s no surprise that Google’s Nest thermostat doesn’t have native integration with either Alexa or HomeKit. However, a good alternative is the Tado smart thermostat which allows you to set zoned heating in your home with smart TRV’s and works with both Alexa and HomeKit.

How Do I Add Alexa to HomeKit?

You cannot add Alexa directly to HomeKit, instead, you’ll be adding the same smart home devices to multiple ecosystems.

Here are the instructions to add your smart home devices to Alexa:

  1. First, ensure you have set up the device within the manufacturer’s app if required.
  2. Download and install the Alexa app. If you’ve got an Amazon Echo, you’ll probably already have this installed anyway.
  3. Once downloaded, head to the ‘Devices’ tab and choose ‘+’ to add the device.
  4. Choose’ Add New Device’ and search for the device from the list.
  5. Follow the onscreen instructions, depending upon the device you may need to enter your log-in details to link your devices to the manufacturer’s app.
  6. Tap ‘Choose Group’ to group your device with other devices.
  7. Once set-up, you’ll be able to edit the name of the device by choosing ‘Edit Name’.

Here are the instructions to add your smart home devices to HomeKit:

  1. First, ensure you have set up the device within the manufacturer’s app if required.
  2. Open the Home app and select ‘+’ in the top corner.
  3. Choose ‘Add Accessory’.
  4. You’ll be presented with three ways to add your device. The easiest is by scanning the QR code on the box or the device itself.
  5. Once the device has been discovered, tap ‘Allow’ to add the device to your network.
  6. Finally, you’ll be prompted to add a name and choose a room.

Can I Use Alexa on My iPhone?

If you’ve grown to like Alexa, you can access the voice assistant on your iPhone. Once you have the Alexa app installed, either tap the Alexa icon at the top or simply use the wake word ‘Alexa,…’.

Unfortunately, Alexa cannot directly replace Siri as the default assistant on iPhone at the moment, however, for a hands-free experience, you can say “Hey Siri, Open the Alexa app”, followed by your Alexa commands. It’s a bit clunky though!

Can I Use Apple Music with Alexa?

If you’re an iPhone user, chances are that you also have an Apple Music subscription given how well it integrates with the iPhone and Apple’s ecosystem.

If you also have an Amazon Echo, you can now connect your Apple Music subscription to access your music via Alexa. To do this, you’ll need to change your default music service via the Alexa app.

To set Apple Music as your default music service:

  1. Open the Alexa app
  2. Go to the ‘More’ tab and select ‘Settings’
  3. Choose ‘Music & Podcasts’ and select ‘Link New Service’
  4. Tap ‘Apple Music’ and you’ll be directed to enable the Apple Music skill
  5. Next, you’ll need to log in with your Apple ID
  6. Once the service has been linked, head back to the ‘Music & Podcasts’ menu and choose ‘Default Services’
  7. Here, you can set which services will use Apple Music by default

No, you cannot directly link Siri and Alexa together, however, there wouldn’t be any real benefit to doing this as both apps provide the same functionality.

Instead, you can link your other devices to both the Alexa and HomeKit which will allow you to use either voice assistant to control them.