Alexa, How Do I Set Up My Amazon Echo?

(Credit: Amazon)

Amazon's well-known audio assistant tech is found inside everything from its Echo-branded smart speakers and smart displays, to Fire TV devices and tablets, to earbuds—as well as a huge range of third-party gadgets. But how exactly do you get Alexa up and running on your new device? Good news: it's extremely easy. To get started, your Echo needs nothing more than Wi-Fi and power connections. Amazon has a huge range of Alexa-enbled products and they all have some minor differences, but even so, the setup is essentially identical no matter what device you're on. Here's how it's done:

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Download the Amazon Alexa App

Get it free on iOS, Android, or Fire OS for Amazon's own tablets. Newer Fire tablets should already have it; first and second-generation Fire tablets are not supported.

Pick a Device to Set Up

You need an Amazon account to use Alexa, but you don't need Amazon Prime. Sign in on the app. Then click More on the lower right and select Add a Device. You can add any number of Alexa-supported smart home devices to your account, from smart lights to plugs. But we're focused on Echo devices themselves, so tap Amazon Echo. At the next screen, select which Echo you have; it covers almost every type of Echo created since 2014, even the discontinued units. Make sure your Echo device is plugged in.

Enter Setup Mode

When you enter setup mode, the Echo's light ring or bar will flash blue and then orange. If you don't see orange, press and hold the Action button for five seconds. Eventually, Alexa will perk up and tell you it's "now in Setup mode." (You may also need to hold down the microphone and volume buttons for up to 20 seconds until the light goes from yellow to blue to get it into Setup mode.)

Connect to Wi-Fi

Amazon has an option to save your Wi-Fi credentials—the network's SSID and the security password/code—so you don't have to enter them every time you set up Amazon products. If you've already done this before, setting up Wi-Fi on a new Amazon Echo is a breeze. Once the app detects the new Echo, press the name (like Echo Dot-BG8), and you'll see it search for Wi-Fi, connect to your saved network, and confirm the Echo is on the network.

Echo Wi-Fi setup steps with a saved network.

It's a little different if you didn't save your Wi-Fi info (or you did, but want to set up the Echo on a different Wi-Fi network, even in the same location). In this case, you'll see a list of available Wi-Fi networks visible to your phone or tablet; pick the preferred Wi-Fi network. Enter the Wi-Fi password when asked if you have one. (You should really put a password on the Wi-Fi.) This is also where you can save your network credentials to Amazon.

Echo Wi-Fi setup without a saved network.

Once all the info has been sent to the device, Alexa will say "Your Echo is ready," and the orange lights go out. Select the language to use and set the Echo's location.

Wi-Fi password-saving works even with Amazon's Fire tablets and Kindle ebook readers. Here's more on what Amazon does with saved Wi-Fi passwords. If you change the Wi-Fi password on your router, you'll have to change the stored Wi-Fi password used by your Echo(s) at least once.

Say 'Alexa'

You can now ask your Echo device to do your bidding by using the wake-word "Alexa." You can change the wake word on each individual device from Alexa to Echo, Amazon, or Computer in the mobile app via Settings > Device Settings > [Your Echo] > [gear icon] > Wake Word (you can't change them all at once.) You can now connect your Echo to music apps, external speakers, and other Echo devices (for multi-room music playback) around the house.

Special Note for Amazon Echo Show Devices

Because the Echo Show line comes with a screen, the setup is easier—no mobile app on the phone is required. Yet the basics are the same: Plug it in, select a language, connect to the Wi-Fi (including entering the Wi-Fi password on the screen if it's not saved), log in to your Amazon account, and you're ready to go.

About Our Expert

Eric Griffith

Senior Editor, Features

My Experience

I've been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally since 1992, more than half of that time with PCMag. I arrived at the end of the print era of PC Magazine as a senior writer. I served for a time as managing editor of business coverage before settling back into the features team for the last decade and a half. I write features on all tech topics, plus I handle several special projects, including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys and yearly coverage of the Best ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, Best Products of the Year, and Best Brands (plus the Best Brands for Tech Support, Longevity, and Reliability).

I started in tech publishing right out of college, writing and editing stories about hardware and development tools. I migrated to software and hardware coverage for families, and I spent several years exclusively writing about the then-burgeoning technology called Wi-Fi. I was on the founding staff of several magazines, including Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine. All of which are now defunct, and it's not my fault. I have freelanced for publications as diverse as Sony Style, Playboy.com, and Flux. I got my degree at Ithaca College in, of all things, television/radio. But I minored in writing so I'd have a future.

In my long-lost free time, I wrote some novels, a couple of which are not just on my hard drive: BETA TEST ("an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale," according to Publishers' Weekly) and a YA book called KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. Go get them on Kindle.

I work from my home in Ithaca, NY, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.

The Technology I Use

My first computer was a Laser 128, an Apple II-compatible clone with an integrated keyboard, matched with an eye-straining monochrome green monitor. I used it to type papers in college for other people for money...until I discovered the Mac SE in the college computer room. That changed my life. My first cellphone was a Samsung Uproar—the silver one with the built-in MP3 player from the Napster days (the pre-iPod era).

I use an iPhone 15 Pro hourly and an iPad Air infrequently (but I'm always in the market for a cheap Android tablet). I have a PlayStation 5 just to play Spider-Man, and several Windows machines, including a work-issued Lenovo ThinkPad. I talk to Alexa and Siri all day long. I do the majority of my computing on a 15-inch LG Gram laptop attached to a Thunderbolt hub to run a multi-monitor setup—I overdid it on the power needed to simply work from home.

I'm most at home in Microsoft Word after decades of writing there. More and more, I turn to services like Google Docs, using tools like Grammarly. I use Google's Chrome browser due to an addiction to several extensions I think I can't live without, but probably could. I use Excel extensively on data-intensive stories, but for chart creation, we've switched over entirely to using Infogram for interactive features that are hard to find elsewhere. I do a lot of graphics work for my stories, but limit myself to the free and amazing Paint.NET software to edit images.

I'm a firm evangelist for using the cloud for backup and syncing of files; I'm primarily using Dropbox, which has never failed me, but I also have redundant setups on Microsoft OneDrive, plus extra picture backups on Amazon Photos and iCloud. Why take chances? For entertainment, mine is a streaming-only household—my kid has never seen network TV and barely been exposed to commercials, thanks to Roku and Amazon Music. The house is peppered with smart speakers from Amazon for instant gratification and control of smart home devices like multiple Wyze cameras and Nest Protect smoke detectors. I've got accounts on all the major social networks, to my horror. I have a robot vacuum for each floor of the house. I want a 3D printer, but not sure what I'd use it for.

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