If you are a fan of smart devices, then you may already have an Echo device – Amazon's line of smart speakers that connect to other devices using Amazon's voice-controlled personal assistant Alexa. Stream macbook to xbox one.
These Alexa-powered speakers from Amazon hit the market first before the likes of Google, Lenovo, and Apple followed suit with their own smart personal assistants. The top products in this space include:
- Google Home Smart Assistant
- Lenovo's Smart Assistant
- Apple's HomePod
- The Echo from Amazon
These products are taking the market by storm through Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo, the pioneer in this world of smart speakers, remains in command of the largest market share.
Amazon Alexa supports a large number of streaming services – both free and subscription-based on Amazon devices. The voice-controlled app lets you customize practically all the voice commands you use with your speakers and intelligently keeps track of these commands for you.
With Alexa, you can enjoy convenient playback control in your home as you stream music and other media through any number of your Alexa devices. Registering your Alexa device to an Amazon account also allows you to access your Audible library and Amazon Music library automatically, taking your home entertainment to another level of convenience.
You can add one adult and up to four kids to your account. To do so, open the Alexa app on your phone and open the menu. Next, tap Account Settings, select Amazon Household and tap Start. Once you have paired your iPhone with Alexa, you can open the Apple Music app and select the specific song or playlist that you want to stream. You should then hear this selection play through your Echo speaker. You can stream audio from iTunes, Apple Music, Podcasts, and even the Apple TV. Amazon sells a voice remote you can use to chat with Alexa on your Echo. For $29.99 (currently on sale for $19.99), the voice remote connects to your Echo via Bluetooth and includes a microphone. In the screen that appears, you can customize the name of your quiz, the greetings that Alexa will use for each player, and the responses and sound effects used following a right (or wrong) answer. Alexa gives a confirmation that it's connected but when I reopen the app I see it's just reverting back to the old one each time. Amazon support just says to do what I've already done and I can't seem to find any info about this on google except for one forum where someone said to factory reset the whole thing.
What if you have an iPhone home?
Apple devices and services are extremely selective when it comes to pairing and connecting to non-Apple services or devices. So, you may realize that Apple iTunes and Amazon Alexa do not play well together, which begs the question: is my iPhone able to connect with an Amazon Echo device?
The answer is a big YES! So pull up a chair, sit down and we'll show you how it's done.
Echo devices are Bluetooth enabled, which means you can control the audio playback on your device by speaking to Alexa. This is to say that you will be able to play and control your Apple music service on Amazon's smart speakers if iPhone is what you use for your home entertainment.
Using Bluetooth to connect your iPhone to Alexa
You can connect an iPhone to the Amazon product via Bluetooth, giving you the ability to start streaming and control the audio with the following products:
- 1st or 2nd generation Amazon Echo
- 2nd gen Echo Dot
- Echo Spot
- Echo Show
- Echo Plus
Initial pairing
The first thing you'll have to do is get the two devices (your iPhone and the Amazon Echo device) connected.
This entails pairing the iPhone with your Echo device via Bluetooth. To do this, take your iPhone near the Alexa device that you want to pair. On your iPhone, open the Settings app. Navigate to Bluetooth and open it.
Say, 'Alexa, pair' to put the Amazon Echo device in Bluetooth Pairing mode. With that command, Alexa should give you an audible acknowledgment that it is searching and confirm when your Echo device is in pairing mode.
Next, you'll get a notification on your iPhone screen asking if you want to pair or giving you the ability to cancel the pairing request. Tap 'Pair' to connect the two devices via Bluetooth.
Alexa should also give you an audible confirmation that it has just connected to [name of your iPhone], adding that now that you're paired, you should just say 'connect my phone' next time you want to reestablish the pairing.
On your Bluetooth screen, the Echo will now show as connected. You can see this by scrolling to Other Devices at the bottom where the particular Echo device appears.
Streaming music and more
Once you have paired your iPhone with Alexa, you can open the Apple Music app and select the specific song or playlist that you want to stream. You should then hear this selection play through your Echo speaker.
You can stream audio from iTunes, Apple Music, Podcasts, and even the Apple TV. You also have the option to play music from any third-party app that has audio, such as AudioBox or Pandora.
Controlling playback and more Adobe photoshop 7.0 free for mac.
Alexa is a voice-controlled app so you will be able to control your playback by simply speaking to it once it is playing.
You can tell the intelligent personal assistant to play, pause, raise and lower the volume, resume, and even skip ahead and back to the contents on that playlist.
You won't be able, however, to ask Alexa to identify a song for you, nor can you make it play specific songs or other content from your iPhone. If you try asking your Alexa to play specific songs, it will simply break the connection to your iPhone and instead play music from the Amazon music source that you have set as your default choice, such as Amazon Music.
For that kind of command, Apple prefers that you use its own personal assistant Siri, so you'll need to say 'Hey Siri' for that.
Wrap Up
If you're an iPhone owner and an Echo diehard at the same time, Bluetooth pairing is a great way to start using these amazing devices together. Though it does have its limitations, it still makes listening to your favorite music fun and easy.
Even though Firestick is offering the Screen mirroring option natively, again but iOS and Mac devices are still not supported. There are obvious workarounds which you can use to mirror your Mac to Firestick. Let's check those out.
I also made a list of ways with which you can mirror your iPhone to the Firestick and easily share your content to the big screen. The following apps simulate an AirPlay server on the Firestick and receive the content from computer and cast it on the TV.
Read: Best Apps for Firestick and Fire TV Stick 4k
1. AirScreen
AirScreen is one of the most popular apps to mirror both Android and iOS screens to the Firestick. The one-time setup is really simple, get the app from the Amazon Store (link below). Open the app and run the server on the FireStick and you should see the option pop up on your Mac. Unlike streaming from an iPhone, you can use your Firestick as a second monitor to play some videos while you work on your computer.
Pros
- Easy to use UI
- Quick Connection
- Fast feed transfer
Cons
- Unreliable connection on the Firestick 4K (maybe it's the software issue)
Install AirScreen (firestick) Mappe europa tomtom for mac.
2. AirPin Pro
Just like AirScreen, AirPin Pro also lets you share the screen over AirPlay. Best mac os x 10.3.9 emulator. It creates and runs the AirPlay receiver in the background so you don't have to turn ON the server every time you boot your FireStick. It is great to mirror your computer screen or use your Firestick as an extended display. However, you can just play some music without mirroring the display. The app is paid and would cost you $4.99 but you can try the free version to see if the app works for you.
Pros
- Local Connection Feed transfer
- Different modes of AirPlay for Video and Audio
Cons
- UI is confusing for the first-timers
Install AirPin Pro (Firestick)
3. Mirror for Fire TV
AirPlay is not the only way to mirror your Mac screen to the Firestick. Mirror for Fire TV is another mirroring app which lets you cast your screen to the TV effortlessly. You just install the receiver app on the Firestick via the following link and install another app on the Mac. It automatically detects your Firestick on the same network and seamlessly streams the footage. Unlike AirScreen and AirPin Pro, you can drop the video files from your Mac and play it on the Firestick without much lag. However, it comes with a price tag of $9.99 and you can try it for three minutes before purchasing the paid version.
Pros
- High-speed local connection
- Dedicated channel for playing videos
Cons
- The app requires installation on both devices
Install Mirror for Fire TV (Firestick, macOS)
4. Splashtop
If you're serious about mirroring your computer to your TV then maybe try Splashtop. It is a popular remote mirroring app which you can use to cast your screen to the TV. It is more than just a mirroring app and you can even control the mac from your TV but you would need to connect a keyboard and a mouse using a splitter cable. Nevertheless, Splashtop is a legitimate option to mirror your Mac Screen to the Fire TV Stick. The only caveat with this app is that you can't install it natively. However, you can get it from Aptoide TV.
Pros
- Secure Connection
- Allows remote control of Mac from TV
- Easy UI
Cons
- Requires additional hardware to work as a remote solution
- Doesn't work without the Internet
TeamViewer- Alternatively, you can use TeamViewer client to remotely log in to your Mac from your Firestick. It works just like Splashtop and lets you see the Mac screen and lets you control everything on it. You can get it on Aptoide TV app.
Check out Aptoide TV
Can You Make Alexa Connect To Your Mac Desktop
Mirror your Macbook on the FireStick
These were some of the best apps which let you view your iPhone screen on the big screen. AirScreen and AirPin Pro are efficient and available on the Amazon Store. Splashtop is great because you can actually control your mac from the TV. It is perfect when you have to log in to a remote machine at your work or at a remote location. Which app do you use to mirror your iPhone screen to the Firestick, let me know in the comments below?
AirPlay is not the only way to mirror your Mac screen to the Firestick. Mirror for Fire TV is another mirroring app which lets you cast your screen to the TV effortlessly. You just install the receiver app on the Firestick via the following link and install another app on the Mac. It automatically detects your Firestick on the same network and seamlessly streams the footage. Unlike AirScreen and AirPin Pro, you can drop the video files from your Mac and play it on the Firestick without much lag. However, it comes with a price tag of $9.99 and you can try it for three minutes before purchasing the paid version.
Pros
- High-speed local connection
- Dedicated channel for playing videos
Cons
- The app requires installation on both devices
Install Mirror for Fire TV (Firestick, macOS)
4. Splashtop
If you're serious about mirroring your computer to your TV then maybe try Splashtop. It is a popular remote mirroring app which you can use to cast your screen to the TV. It is more than just a mirroring app and you can even control the mac from your TV but you would need to connect a keyboard and a mouse using a splitter cable. Nevertheless, Splashtop is a legitimate option to mirror your Mac Screen to the Fire TV Stick. The only caveat with this app is that you can't install it natively. However, you can get it from Aptoide TV.
Pros
- Secure Connection
- Allows remote control of Mac from TV
- Easy UI
Cons
- Requires additional hardware to work as a remote solution
- Doesn't work without the Internet
TeamViewer- Alternatively, you can use TeamViewer client to remotely log in to your Mac from your Firestick. It works just like Splashtop and lets you see the Mac screen and lets you control everything on it. You can get it on Aptoide TV app.
Check out Aptoide TV
Can You Make Alexa Connect To Your Mac Desktop
Mirror your Macbook on the FireStick
These were some of the best apps which let you view your iPhone screen on the big screen. AirScreen and AirPin Pro are efficient and available on the Amazon Store. Splashtop is great because you can actually control your mac from the TV. It is perfect when you have to log in to a remote machine at your work or at a remote location. Which app do you use to mirror your iPhone screen to the Firestick, let me know in the comments below?
Alexa Connect To Wifi
How to unlock apps on mac. Related: Which to buy among Chromecast, Firestick, Roku, Android TV, and Apple TV?
