Listening to music on your phone and want to continue listening on an Alexa device like an Amazon Echo? You can easily cast music from your phone to Alexa speakers and displays. Here are the main ways to do it.
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Pair Your Phone to Alexa via Bluetooth
The easiest way is to pair your phone to the Alexa device using Bluetooth. Here are the steps:
- On your phone, ensure Bluetooth is turned on. On an iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth. On Android, go to Bluetooth settings.
- Say “Alexa, pair” to the Alexa device. This puts the device into Bluetooth pairing mode.
- On your phone’s Bluetooth settings, select the Alexa device from the list of available devices. Your phone may show a pairing code that needs to be confirmed.
Once paired via Bluetooth, you can play music or other audio from your phone and it will stream directly to the Alexa device. You can control playback using controls on your phone or through Alexa voice commands like “Alexa, pause”.
To disconnect, say “Alexa, disconnect my phone” or go into your phone’s Bluetooth settings and select Disconnect for that Alexa device.
Cast from the Amazon Music App
If you subscribe to Amazon Music, the Amazon Music app provides a Cast feature to send music to Alexa devices:
- Open the Amazon Music app on your phone and start playing a song.
- Tap the Cast button in the top corner.
- Select the Alexa device you want to cast to from the list.
The song will start playing on that Alexa device. You can still control playback from the app as well as via Alexa voice commands.
Use Your Phone’s Voice Assistant
If you have Google Assistant on your Android phone or Siri on your iPhone, you may be able to use voice commands to cast to Alexa devices.
Try saying:
- “Hey Google/Siri, play [song] on my Echo”
- “Hey Google/Siri, cast my music to the [room] Echo”.
This allows hands-free casting if you’ve already set up voice assistant connectivity between your phone and Alexa device.
Designate a Music Service in the Alexa App
You can link music services like Spotify and Apple Music to your Alexa device using the Alexa app:
- Open the Alexa app and go to More > Music & Media.
- Select Link New Service.
- Choose the music service and sign in to link it.
With a linked music service, you can say “Alexa play [song] by [artist] on [music service]” without having to cast from your phone directly.
Set Up Multi-Room Music Groups
To play music on multiple Alexa devices at once:
- Open the Alexa app and select the Devices tab.
- Choose Combine Speakers > Multi-Room Music.
- Check each device you want to group and select Save Group.
Then you can cast music from your phone to the group or use Alexa voice commands to play tunes across all those devices simultaneously.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you can’t get your phone to connect or cast to an Alexa device, here are some things to try:
- Make sure your phone and the Alexa device are on the same WiFi network.
- Try moving the Alexa device closer to your phone, away from potential interference.
- Reboot both your phone and the Alexa device.
- Unpair previously paired Bluetooth devices then try pairing again.
- Disable then re-enable skills like Spotify under More > Skills & Games in the Alexa app.
Conclusion
Whether you want to continue listening to a song on a different device or control music playback hands-free with Alexa, casting and streaming from your phone to Alexa speakers and displays is simple. Just use Bluetooth, the appropriate apps like Amazon Music, or Alexa multi-room capabilities to enjoy music anywhere.
The key options covered in this article include:
- Bluetooth pairing between phone and Alexa device
- Casting from Amazon Music app
- Using phone’s voice assistant
- Linking music services in Alexa app
- Creating multi-room groups
With these tips, you can easily play music from your phone on Alexa speakers throughout your home.
