Alexa Skills Not Working? 11 Ways To Troubleshoot

Alexa’s full suite of more than 100,000 Skills is a powerful platform, but there are times when those Alexa Skills are not working. The server that powers the Skill might have a hiccup, or there may be a problem with the way the Skill is implemented within your smart home.

If you find an Alexa Skill that doesn’t work or perform as intended, here are a few fixes to try.

1. Make Sure Alexa is Connected to WiFi

2. Ensure You’re Using the Correct Phrase

Many Alexa Skills have specific activation phrases. If you find an Alexa Skill is not working as you expect, make sure you’re using the correct activation phrase. For example, the Food Network Kitchen skill can be activated in three separate ways:

• “Alexa, open Food Network Kitchen.”
• “Alexa, show me cooking classes from Food Network Kitchen.”
• “Alexa, show my saved recipes from Food Network Kitchen.”

3. Check If the Skill Needs Parental Permission

Some Alexa Skills can’t be activated without parental permission. If you’re using a Skill and it asks for parental permission, you’ll have to enable it from your home screen. This is particularly true with regard to child-focused Skills.

4. Enable the Skill

In some instances, the Skill might have been disabled. When this happens, you’ll need to re-enable the Skill from within the Skills menu.

5. Re-Install the Skill

If you have a Skill that has worked for the most part but suddenly stopped working, an error may have occurred that can be fixed by disabling the Skill and re-enabling it. When you disable a Skill, it unlinks it from your account. Enable the Skill and re-link it. Doing this should correct most issues.

6. Verify Your Device Is on the Correct Profile

7. Re-Enable the Device

8. Reinstall the Device

9. Force a Firmware Update

Some Alexa Skills might not be available until the Echo hardware undergoes a firmware update. While any connected device will periodically check for updates automatically, you can force a firmware update to bring your Echo in-line with the firmware version it should have.

To do this, press the mute button on your Echo. It will take anywhere from only a few minutes to as long as half an hour, but Alexa will announce she needs to perform an update. Once this is complete, the hardware will restart and will no longer be muted. Of course, this only works when firmware updates are available.

10. Make Sure You Complete the Skill

Alexa Skills can be custom-made through the Skill Blueprint system. However, it is possible to make a Skill without updating your account and adding it to your list of active Skills. If your Skill is custom made and doesn’t work, make sure it has actually been completed within the system.

11. Create a Voice Profile

Some people might encounter a more perplexing issue: Alexa may not seem to understand what they’re saying. If this happens, you can train Alexa to recognize your voice. Go to Settings > Account Settings > Recognized Voices > Manage Voice Profile.

From this screen, you can choose to have Alexa personalize your skills or delete your voice profile. You can also tap Match voice profiles to speak a series of phrases that Alexa will use to better match your voice when you speak. This allows Alexa to understand you better.

Alexa Skills are one of the features that set Alexa apart from the competition. The vast library of Skills and the easy-to-use Skills Blueprint allows for almost unlimited creativity in how you control your smart home and your life. The only obstacle is when these Alexa Skills stop working.

Just try any one of these 11 tricks to get your Skills back in working order. At least one of these options should get your Alexa back on track.

• How to Create Alexa Skills for Your Business or Employees
• How to Create Skills With Alexa Blueprints
• How to Shop With Alexa for All Your Shopping
• 10 Cool Alexa Tricks to Try With Your Amazon Echo
• How to Change Alexa Language to Spanish and Other Languages

However, you may be looking for something in particular. Maybe you want a trivia game about your family, a fairy tale where your child is the star character or a guide to your home and neighborhood for a houseguest.

Well, guess what? You can make your own skill using Alexa blueprints. Here’s how!

Browse Alexa Skill Blueprints

Select a blueprint to view more details and check out examples. This helps you see how the babysitter blueprint can help when you’re away, or the family jokes blueprint can liven up quality time.

If you find one you want, pick Make Your Own on the skill information screen.

Create a Skill

The steps are the same whether you’re creating a skill with a blueprint on the web or on your mobile device. However, those steps may differ depending on the type of blueprint you select.

For instance, you’ll enter different information for a birthday trivia skill compared to one for flashcards, the pet sitter, or bedtime stories. You can see these steps when you select a blueprint to view its details.

To show you just how easy it is, we’ll create one on each device.

Make a Chore Chart Skill on the Web

For this first example, we’ll use the Chore Chart blueprint to create a skill on the website. This skill helps keep track of household chores and who is responsible for each one.

1. Visit the Alexa Blueprints website, sign into your Amazon account, and choose a blueprint.
2. As described above, select Make Your Own directly below the skill name. If you see a short tutorial for building the skill, choose Start Now when you get to the end.
3. Next, you’ll be prompted to replace the details for the skill with your own. For the Chore Chart, we’ll fill in the names of our household members and chores.

1. Select Next on the top right to move to the next step.
2. Here again, you may be asked to enter more details for the skill. For the Chore Chart blueprint, we assign the chores to the household members. Just keep in mind that the number of prompts and requested details depend on the exact skill and blueprint.

1. Select Next to continue.
2. One step that you’ll find in most blueprints is for customizing the experience. This refers to how you interact with Alexa for that particular skill. For instance, you can enter introduction phrases for when someone opens the skill and then other phrases for when someone completes a chore. These are the phrases Alexa uses for that specific skill.

1. Select Next to finish entering the details.
2. The final step in creating a skill is to give it a name. Try to use something meaningful that you’ll remember but also something simple enough for Alexa to recognize.

1. Select Next one last time to create the skill.

After a few moments to process all the information, your skill should be ready to use!

Make a Whose Turn Skill in the Mobile App

For this next example, we’ll use the Whose Turn blueprint to create a skill in the Alexa app. This skill prompts Alexa to choose whose turn it is to do something.

1. Open the Alexa app on Android or iOS and select the More tab.
2. Pick See More in the top section and choose Blueprints .
3. Browse the options by category, just like on the website. Then, select the one you want to use and tap Make Your Own .

1. Replace the details for the skill with your own. For the Whose Turn skill, we’ll add the names for Alexa’s choices.
2. Tap Next on the top right to continue.
3. The next step for the Whose Turn skill is to personalize the experience. This allows you to customize how Alexa picks a name. After you ask a question, Alexa uses the phrases and sound effects you select in this section. Optionally, you can scroll down for additional customization options.
4. Tap Next to name your custom skill.
5. Select the text on the name line to edit it or enter your own. Again, pick a meaningful name and one that’s easy for Alexa to recognize.
6. Tap Next to create the skill.

You’ll see the progress as your skill is created and a confirmation when the process completes. You can tap the X on the top right to exit when you finish reviewing your skill.

Edit Skills You Create

Once you create a skill using Alexa Blueprints, you may want to make adjustments to it. You can do this on the web and in the mobile app too.

Your Skills on the Web

1. Visit the Alexa Blueprints website and sign in. Select Skills You’ve Made at the top.
2. You’ll see a list of your skills. Choose Details to the right to open the one you want to edit.

1. On the right side, select Edit or Delete . You’ll notice you can also pick Share With Others to make it easy for your family or friends to access or Publish to Skills Store for other Alexa users.

Your Skills in the Mobile App

You can edit your custom skills easily in the Alexa mobile app as well.

1. Go to the Menu tab.
2. Select See More > Blueprints .
3. On the Your Skills tab, select the blueprint you want to edit.
4. Use the buttons at the bottom to make your changes.

Take Advantage of Alexa Blueprints

Even though there are many premade skills you can pick from, creating your own Alexa skills gives you great ways to personalize the experience on your Alexa devices, get tasks done, or have a little fun !

• How to Create Alexa Skills for Your Business or Employees
• How to Shop With Alexa for All Your Shopping
• 10 Cool Alexa Tricks to Try With Your Amazon Echo
• How to Change Alexa Language to Spanish and Other Languages
• Why Alexa Is Flashing Yellow, Green, and What Does it Mean?