How to make Alexa forget all your devices and routines

Recently, I have noticed that the list of devices and smart actions in my Alexa application has turned into a mess, clogged with old gadgets that I am no longer using and with duplicate actions that made it difficult to create new routines on Alexa.

How did my Alexa app get so addicted to devices and actions? Well, my use case may be a little different from yours, since I work with analysis of this type of product. I have constantly been asking Alexa to discover new devices and then forgetting to delete them when I finish analyzing them.

A more common problem has to do with routines, especially if, like me, you are intelligent lighting. I've been adjusting the lighting scenes in several rooms, and this has led to a series of duplicate actions on Alexa. I probably had three entries to "turn on the kitchen lights" before cleaning things up.

To make matters worse, I am a retired inventor with regard to the devices and activities on my Harmony Companion universal remote, resulting in several duplicates of “Watch TV” and “Connect PS4” on my Alexa app, for example.

Now, you can always access the Amazon Assistant app and selectively remove your list of smart devices and scenes, but doing so involves analyzing them one at a time. I had over 60 shares listed on Alexa, with more than half of them being duplicated. The life is too short to delete and delete 30 duplicate scenes, one by one.

Fortunately, there is an easy way to start again. Using Alexa's interface, you can make her “forget” all her smart devices and scenes and ask her to rediscover them. This will clear all old and unused entries from Alexa's list of smart devices, as well as “deduplicate” Alexa's list of scenes.

note: before trying this tip, remember that asking Alexa to forget your smart devices and scenes also clears all groups (for rooms and speakers) that you have previously set up. And while routines are not excluded, you will likely need to go back and add actions to your routines. So proceed with caution.

How to make Alexa forget all your devices and actions

  1. First, visit alexa.amazon in a desktop web browser (if you try to navigate to that URL on your phone, Amazon will simply ask you to download the Alexa app). Then click Smart Home in the left column and then in Devices or Routines.
  2. Now, scroll to the end and click the button Forget everything. When you do this, a pop-up notifies you that you are about to wipe all of your Amazon registered devices and groups. If you're ready to move on, click OK. Remember that if you ask Alexa to forget all devices, it will also forget all actions and vice versa.
  3. Then click To discover for Alexa to rediscover all its smart devices and scenes. If you have a Philips Hue lamp, click the button Hue Bridge before clicking To discover.
  4. Last but not least, check Alexa's list of smart devices and scenes: both must be drastically paired and cleaned of all old and duplicate devices and scenes.