How to control Plex using Amazon Alexa

Did you know that Plex supports Amazon Alexa? Yes. You can use any of your Amazon Alexa enabled devices to control your Plex media server. This is especially helpful for those who have some kind of physical disability (other than voice-disability) and can’t use remote or computer to control the Plex media server. They can use their voice to command Amazon Alexa to control the Plex media server. For Amazon Alexa to help you control your Plex media server, you have to set up configure Alexa for this purpose first. In this article, the Alexa configuring process and Plex controlling method using Alexa both are explained.

See also: How to add a Plex guest user account

Configure Alexa

Before you can control your Plex account, you need to authorize Amazon Alexa to have access to your Plex account. Also, you need to enable the Alexa skill for Plex. Apart from this, you will also need a device that is compatible with Alexa voice control and the Alexa app installed in an Android or an iOS device. You can follow this step-by-step procedure to configure Alexa:

  1. If you use an Android device, then go to the Android Play Store. Go to the Apple App Store if you use an iOS device. Search for the Alexa app and install it on your device.
  2. Next, on your device, open the installed Alexa app.
  3. In the top-left corner, you will find the menu icon. Tap on it to open the menu.
  4. From the menu that opens up, tap on the ‘skills and games’ option.
  5. You will find a search icon (like a magnifying glass) in the top-right corner. Tap on this icon.
  6. A search bar opens. Type ‘Plex’ in this search bar and press enter.
  7. The Plex skill will open now.
  8. Tap on the ‘enable to use’ option being displayed near the Plex skill.
  9. Now, what you need to do is sign in to your Plex account if prompted.
  10. Then, tap on the ‘authorize’ option to authorize Amazon Alexa to use your Plex media server account.
  11. That is all you have to do to configure Alexa to use it to control Plex.

Configure Plex

  1. Open the Plex media server account.
  2. Go to settings by clicking on the settings icon near the top-right corner of the screen.
  3. In the left pane, click on the ‘remote access’ option.
  4. Next, you should be able to see the ‘enable remote access’ option in the right pane. Click on this option.

Controlling Plex

  1. To start controlling Plex using Alexa, open Alexa and say, ‘Alexa, tell Plex to change my server’.
  2. Alexa lists out the available servers. Choose one of them by saying the server’s name.
  3. You can also tell Alexa directly the name of the server to which you want to change if you know the name of the server. You can do this by saying, ‘Alexa, tell Plex to change my server to xyz’ where xyz is the name of the server here.
  4. Now, you need to choose a player on which you want to use Plex. For doing this, say, ‘Alexa, tell Plex to change my player’. Alexa lists out your available players. Choose one of them.
  5. You can now control Plex using Alexa by using commands starting from ‘Alexa, ask Plex to’ or ‘Alexa, tell Plex to’.
  6. For example, you can say commands like:
    1. ‘Alexa, tell Plex to suggest something to watch’
    2. ‘Alexa, ask Plex to play some music’
    3. ‘Alexa, ask Plex to play abc’ where abc is the name of the TV show, movie, etc.