For more than one year I have created and used some Now buttons and some Connectors with Alexa, linked through the Alexa skill Olisto. It still works - I can create a new Now button, wait for Alexa to update, and then say “Alexa, activate (Now button name)”, and it works.
But when I go to the Alexa Device list, I don’t see the new Now button appear as a device, even after a refresh to scan for new devices. I see some old Now buttons appearing as devices, some of which no longer exist, and I see my Olisto Connectors appearing as devices.
Alexa appears to be displaying an old set of Olisto Now buttons in its devices, even though it recognizes new ones and can activate them successfully.
Any idea why?
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Have you tried saying ‘Alexa, discover devices’? It’s a forced way of discovering.
Yes, I did that. No effect.
I tried deleting all the outdated Now buttons and creating several new ones, and what I discovered is that Alexa no longer shows new Now buttons in its device list, only Olisto Connectors. The Now buttons still work when I say “Alexa, activate (name of Now button)”, but they do not show up as devices as they originally did and as still documented by Olisto.
I think this is likely a change that just needs to be documented correctly by Olisto.
Although it would actually be nice if the Now buttons still appeared as devices in Alexa, because then they could be triggered by an Alexa routine.
I found the Now buttons in Alexa!
They are no longer in the Devices list, they are now Scenes. To activate an Olisto Now button in an Alexa routine, you have to look for it under Smart Home - Scenes.
The old Now buttons under Devices were apparently left over from an earlier version of either the Alexa app or the Olisto skill that classified the Now buttons as Devices rather than Scenes.
To show a Now button as a Scene is more correct to me. A device can be turned on and off, a scene can only, like a Now button, be triggered. So I think this was a good idea.
It would be more nice when a Now button had an ON and an OFF-state, so you can make 2 different triggs for one button. For example I have a button ‘Versterker aan’ (receiver on) and ‘Versterker uit’ (receiver off). It would be more elegant to have one button for both states.
I mentioned in another post here that Now buttons appear to have a state that can be accessed as a variable in a text field in Olisto (click the {…} below the text field and select “Now buttons”). But all the Now buttons I tested returned the state “pushed”, and I’m not sure what would cause them to change state.
Zeker niet, dit is door de filters heengeglipt. Bedankt voor het opmerken!
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Graag gedaan. Had ik het dus toch goed.
Netjes aangepast Daniel