It is possible to enjoy a variety of audio content, such as music and podcasts, on your Amazon Echo device. However, due to Amazon and Google’s historical feud, it’s not that easy to listen to (or watch) YouTube videos on the Amazon Echo via Alexa.
Thankfully, it’s still possible to play YouTube videos with Alexa. We’ll explain how to play YouTube audio through the Amazon Echo so you can enjoy YouTube-exclusive music or other content on your smart speaker. We’ll also show you how to watch YouTube videos on your Echo Show.
How to Play YouTube on Amazon Echo Using Bluetooth
As it turns out, you can’t just ask Alexa to play YouTube videos. Instead, you’ll need to pair your phone, tablet, or similar device with your Echo and treat the Echo as a Bluetooth speaker. It’s not as well integrated as a full connection to your YouTube account or a dedicated YouTube skill, but it’s the best option at the moment.
Pairing Your Phone with Your Amazon Echo
Start saying “Alexa, pair bluetooth”. This will put your Echo into pairing mode. Next, you need to open the Bluetooth pairing setting on your phone.
On Android, you’ll find it under Settings > Connected devices (this may differ depending on your device). Hit Pair New Device and after a moment, you should see your Echo appear in the list.
On any platform, tap your Echo’s name to pair your Alexa speaker and your phone. You can grant access to your contacts and call history when prompted, but this is not required.
During our testing, Alexa said it couldn’t find any devices to pair with. However, they successfully paired, so don’t worry if you hear this message. As long as your phone shows that it is connected to your Echo, you can proceed to play YouTube videos through Alexa.
Connect your devices to play YouTube audio on Echo
Once you’ve paired your Echo and your phone, you’ll need to connect them to start playing audio through your Echo. To do this easily, you can say “Alexa, connect Bluetooth.”
This will cause your Echo to connect to your phone as if it’s a previously paired device. If this is successful, Alexa will chime in and say “now connected to [device name]”.
If that doesn’t work, you can connect manually on your phone. On Android, go to Settings > Connected devices again and tap your Echo’s name to connect. If you have multiple devices paired, you may need to tap See all.
On iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap on your Echo’s name to connect to it. If you have problems, check out our complete guide to using your Echo as a speaker.
You’re ready to play YouTube videos on your Echo
After you’ve connected your phone and the Echo speaker, any audio or other media you’ve started on your phone will play through the Echo. As such, it acts like any other “dumb” Bluetooth speaker you’ve used (see below for details on this).
Thus, you can now open the YouTube app or website and play whatever you want to listen to; Your Echo will play the audio from start to finish. Of course, if you have an Echo, Echo Dot, or any other device that’s just a speaker and not a screen, you won’t be able to watch YouTube videos. You’ll only hear the audio from the video, making it great for podcasts, speeches, or anything else where the visual element isn’t important.
If you can’t hear the video, make sure you turn up the volume on both your phone and the Echo. Depending on the Echo model you have and how loud the video is, not all video on the Echo may sound great.
To disconnect while you’re playing a YouTube video on your Echo, say “Alexa, disconnect Bluetooth.” Alternatively, go to the menu mentioned above and tap on the name of the Echo to access the Disconnect option.
The Echo’s Limitations as a Bluetooth Speaker
Echo voice commands are limited when you connect via Bluetooth. You can play and pause, go to the next or previous video, and adjust the audio, but not much else. It’s not as good as native support, so you can’t search for a specific video with your voice, but it’s better than nothing.
Furthermore, using YouTube on your phone in this way is still subject to YouTube’s normal limits. The most annoying thing is that your video will stop if you turn off the screen. To avoid this, see How to play YouTube videos when the screen is off. The easiest way is to consider joining YouTube Premium, although it’s not free.