Blink Camera & Alexa (Integration Guide).

Alexa is a voice assistant invented by Amazon and it’s included in many devices like the Echo Show, Echo Studio, Echo Dot, Fire TV and even in mobile and tablets.

This virtual assistant is used for many purposes such as answering our questions, getting weather information, and controlling our smart home gadgets like our cameras, doorbells, doorlock and much more.

So many people who want to buy or already own a Blink security camera ask if it is compatible with Alexa?

The Blink company is owned by Amazon and its cams are compatible with all Alexa-enabled devices and they will allow you to control the camera remotely via voice commands and receive notifications on the app, watching the live view on supported screen devices such as Fire Tablets, Echo Spot or Echo Show.

In the following chapters of this article, I am going to show you how to connect the Blink camera to Alexa and the commands that you need in order to control it, and what are the benefits of this integration.

How to connect Blink camera to Alexa?

Before doing anything, you need to download the Blink app from Google Play or Apple Store and set up your camera by following the instructions shown on the app.

After that you need to deactivate the “Do Not Disturb Mode” on the Alexa app in order to receive notifications in your devices when the camera detects movement, and here’s how to do it:

1. Go to the Alexa app on your smartphone or tablet.
2. Open Devices.
3. Then select Echo & Alexa.
4. Select your device.
5. Select Do Not Disturb, then turn it off.

Now when your cam is set up correctly and the Do Not Disturb Mode is turned off you need to enable the Blink SmartHome Skill in order to get your Blink camera to work with your Amazon Alexa, and you can follow the instructions below to do it:

1. Make sure that your Blink cam is powered on and connected to the internet.
2. Ask Alexa “Alexa, enable “Blink SmartHome skill” to receive instructions in the app to link your account with your Alexa account.
3. Or you can go to the Alexa app and search for the “Blink SmartHome Skill”, then click Enable To Use to link your account with the Alexa account.
4. Enter the email and password of your Blink account and create a 4-digit code, then tap Sign In.
5. Alexa will connect to your Blink account and displays a message saying, “Your Blink SmartHome has been successfully linked.”
6. Tap the CLOSE button.
7. Then the Discover Devices screen will appear, click on Discover Devices.
8. Alexa will look for a device to connect, the process may take up to 45 seconds.
9. Then tap “choose device” to begin setting your Blink cam.
10. If you receive a screen with a message saying “no new devices were discovered”, go to Devices on the lower right of the screen for a list of known devices.
11. The Cameras screen shows your discovered devices.

If you want to receive motion announcements notifications so you’ll get alerted by the Alexa app when the Blink cam detect movement around your house follow the steps below:

First, enable “Early Notification” on Blink app:

1. Open the Blink app on your smartphone or tablet.
2. Tap the Camera Settings icon.
3. Then set “Early NotificationBeta” to “On”.

Note: According to Blink, for the best experience enable “Motion Detection”, “Early Notification”, “Motion Recording”.

Then go to the Alexa app to activate the “Motion Announcement” option to complete the process:

1. Open the Alexa app.
2. Tap on the Devices icon at the lower right corner of the app.
3. Then select All Devices.
4. Choose your Blink cam from the list of devices.
5. The Settings page displays, activate “Motion Announcement”.
6. Now Alexa is ready to announce when motion is detected by the camera.

Alexa devices now support Routine Triggers for the Blink SmartHome skill when used with Blink cameras and Routine Triggers are currently available for English language Alexa devices in the North American (the US and Canada) region, you can follow the instructions on this “website” to create a routine.

Common issues when connecting Blink to Alexa.

“Sorry, cameras don’t work on this device.”:

This message appears when you’re using a voice command that is not supported by the type of Alexa device you have integrated with the Blink SmartHome skill, So check the type of Alexa enabled device you are using to check its compatibility with the command you were trying to issue.

“Please specify a system”:

This error will appear when you want to arm the Blink system and you’re using multiple ones in your account, so make sure to include the exact Blink system name for Alexa to distinguish between your multiple systems.

“Ok. I’m not quite sure what went wrong”:

If your Echo device is using the 6.5.4.1 firmware version and you say “Alexa show me the camera name” and the device is muted, if you want to resolve this issue enable the microphone for that camera in the Blink app’s Live View settings.

Note: you can receive a “Hmmmm, Camera is not responding” or “OK” and they refer to the same problem.

“Couldn’t find a device name Blink.”:

When your devices are not all found on the Alexa app this error message will appear, follow the steps below to solve this issue:

1. Open the Alexa app > Tap “Devices” > Tap “Cameras” > Check to ensure all the Blink devices are listed there.
2. If all Blink devices are not discovered, go to Devices.
3. Tap the “+” icon located in the upper right-hand corner.
4. Then choose Add Devices.
5. Select Cameras, then Discover Devices.

Commands to use to control the Blink cam via Alexa devices.

So in order to control and manage your camera with your voice, you need to memorize some commands and use them when you want to arm or disarm the device or if you want to check the live feed and so on and I am going to show you these commands in the next lines of this chapter.

To watch the activity from your Blink camera, say:

“Alexa, show me [camera name]”: Use this command to start streaming a camera live from your supported screened Alexa device.

“Alexa, hide [camera name]”: to stop and return to your supported screened Alexa device home screen.

To see your most recent video clip from Blink on your supported screened Alexa device, say:

“Alexa, show me the last activity from the [camera name]”

To arm/disarm your Blink system, say:

“Alexa, ask Blink to arm [system name]”

“Alexa, ask Blink to disarm [system name], my pin is ####”

To learn when the latest motion clip was recorded, say:

“Alexa, ask Blink when was my last motion alert?”

To learn how many unread and read motion clips you have, you can say:

“Alexa, ask Blink how many motion clips do I have?”

To check your scheduled arming/disarming, say:

“Alexa, ask Blink what’s my schedule?”

To check your current Blink system status, say:

“Alexa, ask Blink what is my status?”

Source (Amazon)

The benefits of Alexa and Blink integration.

This combination has many advantages, for example, people with vision problems may have difficulties when using the mobile application so the voice control option can be better for them, as well as the elderly who may find it difficult to control the Blink camera from the app due to a limited understanding of technology.

Also, Alexa can be a good alternative when the Blink app is not working and you need to check the live feed as soon as possible.

How to change the Blink camera name on Alexa?

Sometimes Alexa may find it difficult to hear the name you attributed to your Blink cam, so I advise you to use simple names to pronounce and to hear, and you can change it on the Alexa app by following the instructions below:

1. Open the Alexa app.
2. Tap “Devices” at the bottom of the screen.
3. Scroll across the top and select cameras.
4. Select your Blink camera.
5. Tap the gear icon at the top right corner of the screen.
6. Tap Edit Name” and rename your device.

How to remove Blink account from Alexa?

If controlling your Blink smart cam via your voice is not for you can easily disable this function on the Alexa app:

1. Open the Alexa app on your mobile.
2. Tap Menu located on top left corner of the screen.
3. Select Skill & Games, then tap Your Skills.
4. Locate Blink SmartHome and disable the skill.
5. Then choose Devices, located on the bottom right corner of the home screen.
6. Tap Cameras and select each one of Blink cameras listed.
7. Then delete each by tapping on the trash icon.

Final words.

When connecting your Blink camera to Alexa you’ll be able to control it from all Amazon gadgets that support this voice assistant including screen-supported devices like Echo Show 2nd generation, Echo Show 5, Echo Show 8, Echo Show 1st generation, Echo Spot, Fire tablets.

Also, non-screen supported devices such as Echo 4th Gen, Echo Dot 2nd and 3rd generation, Echo Plus 2nd generation.

If you encounter some issues that you find difficult to resolve regarding Alexa and Blink, you can contact the company’s customer support.