My Alexa Keeps Discovering Old Devices: How to Stop?

There are plenty of useful devices that are available on the market ready to connect with Amazon Alexa and power up your smart home.

The more you upgrade from one device to another, or you do not want to use a particular device with your Alexa anymore, you simply unlink the device or delete it from the Alexa app, and proceed to use the new device. Maybe you have named the new device the same name you gave the older one.

But then you look at the app, you see the old devices are still listed there! Leaving you with confusion about what has happened and why Alexa discovered the old device you just removed.

If your scenario is similar to this or how your Alexa keeps discovering old devices even if you remove them manually, this guide will help you to remove them completely from your Alexa.

Why does Alexa keep discovering old devices?

Alexa is built to work with other devices. There are over 20 types of devices ready to connect with Alexa and this is done by connecting them using wireless technology.

When you first time connects a device to Alexa, if you have added the device through Skills, then that is probably why your Alexa keeps discovering that device. It is not actually discovering the device. Instead, the skill you are installing is pulling the old device back to the authorized devices in Alexa.

Now, this is what you want to get rid of. You should either remove the device from skills or disable Alexa on that device. So it will not use that deleted device for routines and other voice commands. Let’s see how you can do that.

How to Stop Alexa from discovering old devices

As I said right before. To remove the device from your amazon Alexa and stop it from being discovered, you have to delete it from all the connected apps and services connected with your Amazon Alexa.

I write this guide by assuming the device you want to remove is already listed on Alexa. If it is not listed on Alexa, do not worry. You can skip a few steps that are given in the solutions.

Solution 01 Remove the device from its app & then remove it from Alexa

Step 01 – Remove the app from its app

If you use a device from Logitech or Philips, they have separate apps that you can use to connect with your Alexa and control them.

If you used a such app to connect your device, then as the first step you have to remove it from that app before removing them from Alexa.

The reason is, no matter how many times you remove that device from the Alexa app, the device’s app will keep pulling the device back to the authorized devices on your Alexa. By removing the device from the app, you prevent it from adding again and again on Alexa, which will prevent the device from discovering. Period.

Step 02 – Remove the device from “skills”

Now, as the second step, you need to remove the skills associated with the old device you want to get rid of.

If you are using multiple devices on the same skills, then you can add it back after you finish all the steps here.

1. Open the Alexa app.
2. Go to Menu and then Skills.
3. Select the Skill associated with the device.
4. Tap on Disable skill.

Step 03 – Disable the device from Alexa

As the last step, you can remove the device from Alexa.

1. Open the Alexa app.
2. Go to devices.
3. Select the device you want to remove.
4. Go to its Settings.
5. Tap on the Trash button.

If you follow the steps correctly, now your old device should be removed from the Alexa app and should not be discovered again.

To be clear, in the last step when we move the device to the trash, it will be moved to a different section and Alexa will no longer perform actions on that device. So you do not need to worry about commands that you give to the new device (if both devices have the same name).

However, this solution might not work for some users. If it does not work for you, then you can try the next solution below.

Solution 02 – Power off the old device for a while

Another way to prevent Alexa from discovering your old device is to switch it off and not use it for a while.

When u not use the device, Alexa has no way to connect to it. If you keep the device turned off for a while, it will be automatically removed from the device list.

Just simply turn off the device using the power button or remove the batteries (remove the power cable if the device is powered directly from the power socket)

Solution 03 – Remove the Device from your Amazon account

This solution will only work if you want to remove an Amazon product from Alexa. If you are trying to remove a device from a different manufacturer, skip this solution and move on to the next one.

To remove devices from the Alexa account first you need to log in to your account.

1. Go to Amazon.com and log into your account.
2. Click the account tab on the top right.
3. Select “Content & Devices”.
4. A list of linked devices will appear and you can remove the device you want from the list.
5. Now restart the Echo device and Alexa app.

Solution 04 – Un-authorize the device from the “Smart things” skill

If the device you are trying to remove from Alexa belongs to light bulbs, on/off switches, dimmer switches, thermostats, or smart locks, then you can unauthorize the device under the “Smart things” skill.

For better results, we will use Alexa online portal here

1. Go to Alexa.amazon.com.
2. Log in to your account and go to Skills.
3. Click on Smart things.
4. Unauthorize/Disable the device from the list.

Conclusion

Alexa is built to work with many devices to power up your smart home. Since the interconnection between devices and Amazon Echo is very important, Alexa always tries to keep the devices connected and in control. This is why a lot of users experience this old device discovering issues.

I hope this guide helped you to stop Alexa from discovering devices. If the problem still persists, I recommend you contact Alexa customer support for further guidance to solve the issue.

If you have any questions regarding this guide, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading.

Have a nice day!