That’s right, after what feels like an eternity, Amazon’s Alexa is finally able to change your lightbulb’s colors. This comes after months of only being able to use voice commands to tell Amazon’s smart assistant to dim or turn lights on and off. And while Alexa got a bit closer to helping you change your lights’ colors late last year by allowing you to set scenes (which could include different shades), this is the first time you can just say, “Alexa, make the lights purple,” and end up with purple lights.
This means that Alexa has finally caught up to Google Home in this regard, as that competing smart home hub has had color-changing capabilities from the start. Better late than never, however, and now that Alexa can change the color of light emitted from Lifx, TP-Link, and Philips Hue bulbs, it’s leveling the playing field a bit.
Alexa will also allow you to change the color of a group of lights, and claims to understand more than 100 colors and shades. So no matter how exacting you are about the exact hue of your white light, Alexa should be able to keep up. Tell her you want “soft white” or “daylight,” and she’ll quickly oblige. And if you’re looking to make a more comparative change (“Alexa, make the light cooler”), she’ll know what you’re saying, too.
So if you’re looking to set the mood for a quiet night in or your next big party, you can get Alexa to help. Because who has time these days to manually deal with the lights anyway?
