Connecting your Govee lights to Alexa is a great way to improve your smart home setup. It might seem daunting to use non-Amazon smart lights with Alexa, but Govee lights offer pretty decent integration that lets it respond to and coordinate with your Echo devices with ease.
The main bottleneck with using Govee lights with Alexa is setting it up, but that process is simpler than you’d expect – it’s just a little hard to find guides online, but we have your back!
Connecting your Govee smart lights to Alexa is as simple as installing the Govee app, installing the Alexa skill, then controlling your lights with voice commands! We’ve included a helpful video guide to walk you through that process with visual aids.
Govee lights offer significant advantages over normal lights – and a few perks over even Amazon smart lights (with some tradeoffs, of course). If you’re having performance problems with your Govee lights, it’s probably due to local sources of interference.
Connecting Govee lights to Alexa lets you control your smart lighting with voice commands and is altogether simple to set up if you know how to start. There are also a few advantages Govee lights have over other smart lights – which we’ll be going over pretty soon!
Govee Lights and Alexa
How to Connect Govee Lights to Your Alexa
- Download the Govee Home App, then create your account.
- Link your Govee lights to your Wi-fi network.
- Install the Govee Skill on Alexa.
- Follow the provided steps to log in to your Govee account from Alexa.
- Control your Govee lights from there (using voice commands!).
Kindly note this down: Not all Govee lights will be compatible with Alexa, so look up your specific model’s feature list beforehand – save yourself the potential disappointment!
Govee Lights (Pros and Cons)
Govee is a competitive smart light brand for a few good reasons, though they have their fair share of limitations. It’s up to you to decide if those tradeoffs are worth it for your smart home.
Pros
Govee lights tend to be more budget-friendly than other smart light brands (including Amazon’s catalogue!) while still offering competitive features like music syncing and immersive lighting.
Govee lights also offer something called “scenes”, which lets users group up individual lights to certain settings – allowing multiple complex changes to be triggered by a single voice command. The best thing we can liken them to are Alexa’s “routines”.
Cons
Unfortunately, the Govee lights skill on Alexa has been criticized for buggy, lackluster performance. While Alexa skills having integration issues isn’t new, the big problem is that Govee light usage with Alexa requires the skill – there are no workarounds with Bluetooth, unlike something like Soundcloud or Spotify.
Additionally, Govee lights have pretty short warranty periods that usually last for about one year. Most of their competitors offer two to three years of coverage past the initial purchase date.
Other Things to Consider With Alexa and Govee Lights Setup
Govee lights need to be on the same network as your Echo device
As a general rule, devices linked to one’s smart home need to be on the same Wi-fi network. Smart devices will prioritize connecting to available Wi-fi networks, regardless of their actual performance. If you’re struggling to link your Govee lights with Alexa, your Govee lights might be connected to a different, undesirable network.
Watch for sources of Interference
The nice thing about Govee lights is that they can be placed practically anywhere in your home – all the setup you need is a bit of space and a USB port to supply power.
That said, you’ll want to avoid placing it in areas with sources of potential electronic interference (i.e. wireless devices, microwaves), which can delay or disrupt your Govee light usage. Physical barriers like walls or floors will also dampen signal strength and overall performance.
VPNs could slow down Govee responsiveness (and might region lock features!)
Virtual Private Networks (aka VPNs) have a surprising impact on smart light usage. VPNs work by changing your IP address, which could make it difficult for Alexa to find and link up with your Govee lights. Even after connecting, your Govee light responsiveness could be poor.
This is because VPNs encrypt net traffic, adding another layer of latency to device interactions. Sometimes, this even region locks certain features your smart lights have to offer!
It’s a good idea to turn off any active VPNs before using Govee lights – or any smart lights, for that matter. Otherwise, you’ll have to deal with slow responsiveness, potentially ignored requests, and infuriatingly frequent “Sorry, something went wrong.” responses from Alexa.
Final Thoughts
Connecting Govee lights to your Echo device is pretty simple to manage. While you do need to install the Govee skill for the initial setup, it thankfully won’t be needed for general use. You can get by with using only voice commands once you’re done linking your Govee lights to Alexa!
If your Govee lights aren’t working, be mindful of any sources of disruption present – thick walls, wireless devices, and even VPNs could sabotage your smart light’s performance.