Amazon Echo/Alexa App Name Removal When Asking and Other Alexa Status Requests

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Hi. I’m running the HE Amazon Echo integration with Echo Speaks. @tonesto7 - I know you’re a busy guy but was wondering if you’ve had a solution. I was wondering if anyone has a way to remove extra verbose when using a voice command with Alexa/Echo.

For example:

  1. “Alexa, ask LG how much time is left on my washer?”
    Alexa then asks me, “would you like to check the washer or the mini washer?”
    Mini washer isn’t smart so I wish it didn’t ask in the first place.
    I’d like to remove the “ask LG” altogether and ideally the “mini washer” too.
    Can this be accomplished via Hubitat, RM, or Echo Speaks?
    By default, Alexa/Echo is going through the buggy LG app but I’d rather it utilize the HE Driver instead where I could possibly gain more control.
    I realize other people are using Webcore to accomplish this, but I have no familiarity with it.

  2. This applies to other devices. For example, “Alexa, ask Ecobee what is the temperature in the Master Bedroom?”
    Is there a way to get rid of the “ask Ecobee?”

  3. On the other hand for example, with my lights I can simply ask “turn off the kitchen lights and I don’t have to say, “Alexa, ask Lutron to turn off my kitchen lights.”

Perhaps this is due to some of these apps having been installed into Echo Skills whereas something like my Lutron and Hue only interfaces through HE?

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You may be able to get rid of the "Ask LG" part with a little trickery by creating a routine in Alexa that issues a custom command; i.e.

A routine that responds to "Alexa, how much time is left on my washer? " executes an Alexa Custom Routine that behind the scenes processes the real command of “Alexa, ask LG how much time is left on my washer?” and responds to the device originally spoken to.

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Thanks. I had actually tinkered with that and maybe I just needed more sleep/coffee that day because I couldn’t get it to work. Will need to take another stab at it.

I tired disabling the lg skill to see if the echo would respond directly to “Alexa, how much time is left on my washer” and it couldn’t provide a response.

I was hoping to be able to disable the Ecobee skill and accomplish the same thing but now I’m reluctant to.

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The skill will still need to be active, you're just providing an alternate path for your request. I have noticed that some of these work better than others, but I just tested the LG version and it does respond correctly.

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