Works with Alexa Certification Requirements

Products eligible for Works with Alexa (WWA) certification must adhere to stringent requirements. Review the following requirements before you submit your product for certification.

For general guidelines about the Works with Alexa program and how to submit your devices for testing, see Works with Alexa Overview.

Mobile app requirements

If your device has a mobile app for setup and account linking, your app must support both iOS and Android.

Device requirements

Your device must implement the capability interfaces for the features your product supports. To be eligible for certification, your device must use the required interfaces specified for your device. Some device types have no required capability interfaces.

Climate control

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the climate control category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Air conditioner ThermostatController
Air filter PowerController
Air purifier PowerController
Fan PowerController
HVAC unit ThermostatController
Thermostat ThermostatController

If your product supports any of the following optional climate control features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Entertainment

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the entertainment category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Amplifier Speaker, InputController
Projector PowerController
Receiver Speaker, InputController
Remote control ChannelController, InputController, PowerController
Sound bar PlaybackController, Speaker
Speaker PlaybackController, Speaker
Subwoofer EqualizerController
Television ChannelController, InputController, PowerController

If your product supports any of the following optional entertainment features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Home office

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the home office category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Router NetworkAccessController

If your product supports any of the following optional home office features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Home security

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the home security category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Camera CameraStreamController
Doorbell DoorbellEventSource
Door lock LockController
Garage door opener ModeController with semantics
Security panel SecurityPanelController

If your product supports any of the following optional security features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Household and personal care

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the household and personal care category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Aroma diffuser PowerController
Vacuum ModeController, PowerController

Kitchen and cooking

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the kitchen and cooking category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Microwave Cooking.TimeController, TimeHoldController

Lighting and power

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the lighting and power category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Dimmer PowerController
Lamp PowerController
Light bulb PowerController
Light strip PowerController
Power strip PowerController
Plug PowerController
Switch PowerController

If your product supports any of the following optional features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Sensors

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the sensors category.

Example devices Required Alexa capability interfaces
Contact sensor ContactSensor
Motion sensor MotionSensor

Alexa skill requirements

If your product connects to Alexa through a skill, your skill must meet the following requirements before you submit your product for WWA certification.

Required capability interfaces

Your skill must implement the capability interfaces for the features your product supports. To be eligible for certification, your skill must use the required interfaces specified for your device. Some device types have no required capability interfaces. Return all supported capabilities in the discovery response. For details about the required capabilities, see Device requirements.

State reporting requirements

State reporting enables the Alexa app to accurately reflect the status of smart home devices. For general information about state reporting, see Understand State and Change Reporting and Send Events to the Event Gateway.

Your skill must implement state reporting as follows:

  • Mark all capability properties as retrievable and proactivelyReported in your discovery response. For details, see Alexa.Discovery.
  • Always report the state of all capability properties in the context of an Alexa.Response event when you respond to a control directive, including properties defined by EndpointHealth. For details, see Report state in an Alexa.Response.
  • Respond to ReportState directives with StateReport events. For details, see Report State in a StateReport.
  • Send ChangeReport events when the device state changes for any reason. For details, see Report State in a ChangeReport.
  • When the state of a reported property changes, you must send a ChangeReport with the new property value within three seconds of the state change. The ChangeReport must also include the current value of the connectivity property, defined by the Alexa.EndpointHealth interface.
  • If the connectivity of the device changes to OK, send the report in three seconds or less.
  • If a ChangeReport event fails with HTTP errors 503, 429, or 401, or the message times out, try to resend the ChangeReport. When you resend, do so at least two more times with a delay of no more than 15-second intervals between each try. For details, see the error section of the Send Events to the Alexa Event Gateway.

Test state reporting

Enable your skill for testing in the development portal and test it thoroughly with your device and an Alexa-enabled device or app. Your skill must respond quickly and handle error conditions correctly to make it through the WWA certification process. For details, see Debug Your Smart Home Skill.

Badge requirements

WWA badges are for products intended to be sold on Amazon.com. Before you request the WWA badge, apply the relevant updates and fixes found during the WWA certification process to your product.

To receive a WWA badge, your product must meet the following requirements:

  1. Your product has an ASIN.
  2. The ASIN must be available on Amazon.com, in the country requested, and can't be unavailable, invalid, or suppressed.
  3. The model number for the ASIN must match the product model number listed on the ASIN detail page.
  4. If your product connects to Alexa with a hub, the hub ASIN must be the same as the hub tested during WWA certification.
  5. If your product has an Alexa skill, the skill must be available on Amazon.com, in the country requested, and cannot be unavailable, invalid, or suppressed.

If your product doesn't meet these requirements, Amazon will reject your badge request and you must correct the issues and resubmit your product for certification. For submission instructions, see Apply for Works with Alexa Certification.

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