Amazon revealed a flood of new devices this week, ensuring that every corner of your smart home can be covered by Alexa if that's your thing. But how do you keep track of all those smart speakers, smart display, and dongles? Amazon's new Map View will visualize all your Amazon devices on a virtual floor plan of your house.
The function is shown off briefly in the video below. Essentially, you create a floor plan for your house, and assign Amazon devices to various rooms. Then, access Map View, select the device you want to interact with, and issue the commands you want.
The video shows a woman accessing her Ring Doorbell by opening the Map View and tapping on the front door. Another example shows someone selecting a room and turning down all the lights. It works like any other smart home app, it just has a nifty floor plan view instead of the usual lists.
For the privacy-conscious (or those who don't want housemates messing with their smart lights), Amazon Map View lets you add or subtract rooms and devices at your leisure, so you can leave some smart home gadgets out of the mix. It's also apparently easy to delete the floor plan entirely and stop using it. You won't be able to share your floor plan with anyone else. Each person must create their own with their Amazon account.
(Credit: Amazon)Map View is set to hit the Alexa iOS and iPadOS app later this year for LiDAR-equipped Apple devices: iPhones 12 Pro and Pro Max, 13 Pro and Pro Max, 14 Pro and Pro Max, 15 Pro and Pro Max, and 4th, 5th, and 6th generation iPad Pros (2020 or newer) devices.
The feature will be compatible with most smart home gadgets that already support Amazon Alexa, like lights, plugs, cameras, and thermostats, but you only need one compatible device to start creating a floor plan.
Sign up on Amazon's website to be notified when Map View launches.
