# Did they remove the ability to connect to Alexa?



## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

I don't use it often, but it hasn't worked in awhile so I figured I would try reconnecting it and I tried to follow these instructions but there is no Alexa app on my Roamio. Did they remove the ability?


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

There’s a TiVo skill for your Alexa app....is that what you mean? I have it and it still works.


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

dcpmark said:


> There's a TiVo skill for your Alexa app....is that what you mean? I have it and it still works.


I also have the skill in my Alexa app and it says it's enabled but it's not working.. So I figured I'd try to reinstall it, but when I go to the apps in my Tivo following these instructions, the app isn't there. Is there some other way to pair it?


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

mtnagel said:


> I also have the skill in my Alexa app and it says it's enabled but it's not working.. So I figured I'd try to reinstall it, but when I go to the apps in my Tivo following these instructions, the app isn't there. Is there some other way to pair it?
> View attachment 52179


Not sure what you mean when you keep referring to a TiVo app on your Roamio....everything is done through the Alexa app on your phone/tablet. You download the TiVo skill in your Alexa app, enable the skill by linking it to your TiVo account using your TiVo.com credentials, go through the one-time initial setup, and that's it. AFAIK there is no TiVo app that resides on your Roamio....I know I don't have one.

When you say it's not working, what exactly are you trying?


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

dcpmark said:


> Not sure what you mean when you keep referring to a TiVo app on your Roamio....everything is done through the Alexa app on your phone/tablet. ?


I mean, did you see the link I screenshot I posted? Tivo themselves say to go to your Tivo first.



dcpmark said:


> When you say it's not working, what exactly are you trying?


Nothing works. Can't turn on tv, change channel, or pause.


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

So I figured I'd disable the skill and then enable it again and again, it's asking me to go to the alexa app on my Tivo, which I don't have.


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

Ok, I got it now, but unfortunately I can’t help you because I set it up a long time ago and it still works without an Alexa app on the TiVo. 

In the picture above it says to “click here” for more info if you don’t see the Alexa app on your TiVo.....what does it say when you click it?


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Interesting, just checked and my TiVo skill was missing and you do need the activation code from the TiVo.










Scott


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

dcpmark said:


> Ok, I got it now, but unfortunately I can't help you because I set it up a long time ago and it still works without an Alexa app on the TiVo.
> 
> In the picture above it says to "click here" for more info if you don't see the Alexa app on your TiVo.....what does it say when you click it?


It says this but I don't have a provider. I'm OTA


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

Ah......well, unfortunately only a call to TiVo and/or Amazon seems to be in order. Sorry I can’t be of more help.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

mtnagel said:


> It says this but I don't have a provider. I'm OTA


You would pick TiVo Retail (like me) but no help there really.










My Alexa app is missing as well on my Roamio Pro (Comcast). I'm going to open a ticket with TiVo.

Scott


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

Are you guys on TE3 or TE4?


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Nice, looks like it might have been retired. So wonder why the skill is still available.









Tivo Customer Support Community

Scott


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

dcpmark said:


> Are you guys on TE3 or TE4?


TE3 here.

Scott


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

Alexa control is an “Over the top app”??? That’s such BS....they probably decided that that functionality was costing them money from people not upgrading to TiVo’s VOX products.


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> Nice, looks like it might have been retired. So wonder why the skill is still available.
> 
> View attachment 52185
> 
> ...


Wow. So ridiculous.


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

dcpmark said:


> Alexa control is an "Over the top app"??? That's such BS....they probably decided that that functionality was costing them money from people not upgrading to TiVo's VOX products.


What does over the top mean?


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

mtnagel said:


> What does over the top mean?


Apparently it means an app that they perceive somehow, some way, costs them money, either in upgrades, support time....whatever.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

The Alexa App is gone from my TE3 and TE4 Roamio boxes.


mtnagel said:


> What does over the top mean?


Over-the-top media service - Wikipedia


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## dcpmark (Feb 8, 2006)

JoeKustra said:


> The Alexa App is gone from my TE3 and TE4 Roamio boxes.
> 
> Over-the-top media service - Wikipedia


Thanks for the explanation.....but under this definition the Alexa app isn't a streaming service over the top like MLB.TV, so it still doesn't make sense. Amazon Prime would be an example.

By the way, certain apps like MLB.TV are so bad it's not surprising that TiVO doesn't want to spend money to support them.


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## ehardman (Feb 18, 2004)

Same issue here. Quit working a week or two ago. Alexa app gone from Tivo app screen. Might have been the last update.


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

Changing channels with Alexa broke for me awhile ago, but I still used it occasionally to turn on the tv. Oh well. I'm assuming the Recast works with Alexa. No good reason for me to switch now, but if my Roamio dies prematurely (it's 2 years old now), I'm assuming I'll go with the Recast.


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## babsonnexus (Jan 13, 2016)

If you are technically inclined or up for a challenge (or at least patience), you can build a solution that can do everything you'd ever want:

anyone else order a Caavo today? (Ignore the thread name; I'm taking you to a post I made on the subject)

You'll need to get a bunch of stuff (Harmony Hub, Raspberry Pie) and do some mild programming. Nothing will work out of the box or even the first time. However, once it is done it is beautiful and totally scalable. Although honestly, using a remote is by far faster than talking to Alexa.


Me: "Alexa, trigger channel A-B-C"
Alexa, a few second later: "OK"
On Screen, another second later: 0......... 0......... 6........ Enter


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

What ever happened to the “more robust” connection to google home?


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

I've been using Google Home and Harmony Hub integration for quite a while now. It works pretty good, but I mostly just use it to Pause TV when I want to go to the Kitchen or to build the Buffer.

-KP


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## TiVotion (Dec 6, 2002)

Accidentally discovered that the integration was no longer there the other day. All I want to do is change channels and mute the volume using Alexa. I have a Harmony hub but that doesn’t seem to work for muting.


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

babsonnexus said:


> If you are technically inclined or up for a challenge (or at least patience), you can build a solution that can do everything you'd ever want:
> 
> anyone else order a Caavo today? (Ignore the thread name; I'm taking you to a post I made on the subject)
> 
> ...


Thanks, but way more time, effort and money that it's worth it to me.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

The Harmon Hub can control a TiVo via Alexa if you really need this functionality. I've personally had it enabled for years and never used it.


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## Headford (Aug 28, 2013)

The Alexa voice control was what I used to get around the TE3 standby bug that has been there since May 2018.

With a Mini spinning in circles because the main Roamio in another room wouldn't wake up from standby, all I had to say was "Alexa ask TiVo go Home" to wake up the Roamio (I had the Alexa device setup not to control the Mini in the same room, but the Roamio in the other room).

Now, the pain in the [email protected]# workaround of restarting the Mini or going to the other room and firing up the Roamio from standby seem to be the only options other than spending 3 figures on a Harmony Hub setup.

Any other ideas (other than upgrading to TE4 or turning off the functionality of the Roamio from going into standby)? I have a Roamio that is now more than 7 years old (one of the first ones with the Seagate hard drives from August 2013) and I want to preserve the hard drive life.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Headford said:


> Any other ideas (other than upgrading to TE4 or turning off the functionality of the Roamio from going into standby)? I have a Roamio that is now more than 7 years old (one of the first ones with the Seagate hard drives from August 2013) and I want to preserve the hard drive life.


At 7 years, I'd consider pre-emptively going ahead and replacing the hard drive and not worry about standby mode.

Scott


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## Headford (Aug 28, 2013)

Headford said:


> The Alexa voice control was what I used to get around the TE3 standby bug that has been there since May 2018.
> 
> With a Mini spinning in circles because the main Roamio in another room wouldn't wake up from standby, all I had to say was "Alexa ask TiVo go Home" to wake up the Roamio (I had the Alexa device setup not to control the Mini in the same room, but the Roamio in the other room).
> 
> ...


Figured out a work around.

With an Amazon Fire TV Cube in the room with the Roamio, say "Alexa, tune to channel [pick any # that is a local station that doesn't have an equivalent app on the Cube] on [name of room with the Roamio]". The first time, it will ask whether you want to do it on Fire TV Cube or TiVo. Say TiVo, and it seems to remember your choice going forward. Thanks for the Harmony Hub tip; I basically applied it to the equipment I already had.


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## Johnwashere (Sep 17, 2005)

Dang I actually used this probably at least a few times a month. The last month I noticed I couldnt really get it to work... I loved using it to change the channel when I was done with my kids watching cartoons. It was so handy to yell at the alexa in my family room to put on the news or whatever while making dinner. My parents also used to use it at their home to change channels when not sitting down on the couch.

Stinks that so much is getting phased out on these DVRs. I know most likely within a couple years I will have to move onto streaming tv.... The 2 cable providers by me (Spectrum and Wow!) both are phasing out traditional cable. They dont even offer traditional cable on their website. Wow cable has emailed me and tried to push me into YoutubeTV, Sling, Philo etc and offered me new lower prices on internet only. I like the setup of the tivo stream 4k with sling- very easy to use, even for my wife... but Im waiting for it to mature and add more features and services.


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## Headford (Aug 28, 2013)

Maybe integrated Google Assistant support is on the horizon for TiVo cable boxes.

David Zatz's Twitter feed has a new version of the classic cable system remote (notice the "on demand" button -- it's not a consumer channel remote) with a Google Assistant button.


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1312178344830537728


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## pbubel (Jan 31, 2002)

This is a bummer, I’d been using this features since they launched it. Was a life saver when my son was little during feeding times. No free hands for a remote holding a new born.


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## m00ntan (Oct 27, 2019)

Seems I should bill Tivo for my Alexa devices.


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## lhvetinari (Jun 24, 2019)

Headford said:


> Maybe integrated Google Assistant support is on the horizon for TiVo cable boxes.
> 
> David Zatz's Twitter feed has a new version of the classic cable system remote (notice the "on demand" button -- it's not a consumer channel remote) with a Google Assistant button.
> 
> ...


I'd assume (with the inclusion of the OnD button) that this is probably gonna be a replacement/add-on to the brick style Phase 2 remote distributed with the cableco-branded Android-based IP set-tops. Though I'd love to see it come to regular DVR-land...


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

What’s odd is that they just removed the Alexa app from Tivo. They didn’t remove any of the backend processing, so if your Tivo was already linked, it will still work. I can still control my Roamio with Alexa.


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## m00ntan (Oct 27, 2019)

Anybody have a solution for the "works with Alexa" claim, if I don't know what I'm doing?


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## Magickly (Jan 27, 2012)

*I know this is an old thread but maybe this snippet will help others to not unpair skill. *
Unbelievably sneaky, as usual from TiVo. First they announce offering Google assistant and Alexa support. Years later, still no Google Assistant support. Now they released TiVo stream which offers chrome and.Google Assistant, so they drop Alexa to force pricey device upgrades, without bothering to inform their loyal long-term customers AFAIK Google Assistant is still not able to control our legacy TiVos.
Removing Alexa pairing from tivo menu so now users are unable to re-pair your existing device or add any new ones via alexa's app. As of today, unable to re-pair bolt without code, but Alexa is.still voice controlling. Hope Google Assistant feature is added or I'll be ditching tivo and selling devices.
what a huge disappointment. Especially over the last few years


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## TKnight206 (Oct 20, 2016)

I never used the Alexa app. On my Roamio TE3, I see that it's gone too.

It feels like everything has gone downhill since Rovi bought TiVo, then Xperi.

I miss TiVo Inc. (TiVo Inc. 1997-2016)


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## Mark W. Ward (Dec 11, 2020)

I just got off the phone with my cable provider, Atlantic Broadband. They indicated that Tivo has removed the support of Alexa from their Tivo DVR cable boxes. It was a decision of Tivo, not the service provider. My wife is blind and must use voice commands via Alexa Dot to control TV. As a spouse of a disabled person, I am highly disappointed in both my Service Provider and TIVO. I will check with ADA regulations to see if this is potentially a violation.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Mark W. Ward said:


> I just got off the phone with my cable provider, Atlantic Broadband. They indicated that Tivo has removed the support of Alexa from their Tivo DVR cable boxes. It was a decision of Tivo, not the service provider. My wife is blind and must use voice commands via Alexa Dot to control TV. As a spouse of a disabled person, I am highly disappointed in both my Service Provider and TIVO. I will check with ADA regulations to see if this is potentially a violation.


The Tivo software has a "screen reader" (TTS) mode which reads things off the screen, so I would assume that would satisfy any ADA regulations.

https://support.tivo.com/articles/Knowledge/Accessibility-Screen-Reader-or-Text-to-Speech


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## Psoo (Jan 14, 2021)

Just got off phone a filled out a special form to request a feature, no you guys are not crazy they used to be an Alexa app on Roamio. I was told by TiVo tech-support that the Roamio Alexa app was removed because it crashed the system I filled out over a a form to request the Alexa app and it was closedsaying that it could not be supported.I suspect it has nothing to do with crashing the system but rather TiVo has their own remote with a voice system I don’t wanna use the remote that’s why I have Alexa


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## m00ntan (Oct 27, 2019)

Thanks for trying.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

What's really odd is that Alexa integration still works if you previously signed up so they didn't shut down the back end integration, even at this point as I tested it today. The only thing that wasn't working was tuning by channel name. You would think that would be something they'd do.


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## ocdave (Aug 15, 2008)

morac said:


> What's really odd is that Alexa integration still works if you previously signed up so they didn't shut down the back end integration, even at this point as I tested it today. The only thing that wasn't working was tuning by channel name. You would think that would be something they'd do.


Tuning by channel name still works for me. But unless I first tell Alexa to tell Tivo to pause, it doesn't know how to do anything. After I tell it to pause, everything works normally.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

ocdave said:


> Tuning by channel name still works for me. But unless I first tell Alexa to tell Tivo to pause, it doesn't know how to do anything. After I tell it to pause, everything works normally.


When I tried to tune by name, I got a "something went wrong" error. That feature rarely worked properly even when this was still supported.

Really there's no reason Tivo couldn't support Alexa at this point. There's no reason an App is needed to link accounts. It could be done simply by logging into your account in the Alexa skill.


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## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

morac said:


> When I tried to tune by name, I got a "something went wrong" error. That feature rarely worked properly even when this was still supported.
> 
> Really there's no reason Tivo couldn't support Alexa at this point. There's no reason an App is needed to link accounts. It could be done simply by logging into your account in the Alexa skill.


 because the have hydra their own voice search software


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## ajwees41 (May 7, 2006)

dcpmark said:


> Thanks for the explanation.....but under this definition the Alexa app isn't a streaming service over the top like MLB.TV, so it still doesn't make sense. Amazon Prime would be an example.
> 
> By the way, certain apps like MLB.TV are so bad it's not surprising that TiVO doesn't want to spend money to support them.


 the app developers not Tivo support the apps


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## Redbird19 (Mar 17, 2017)

Well this sucks...

I was happily using Alexa to control my TiVo Bolt for years. It was super convenient when bottle-feeding my son and not having a free hand. We moved to a new house 3 months ago and I was still using it without any issues. 

But suddenly, yesterday, it just stopped working. I looked for the Alexa app on TiVo and couldn't find it. The Alexa skill still shows the Bolt as a linked device, but any command I give to Alexa results in her blue light spinning and nothing else, no response from TiVo. 

Then I found this thread and I learned that TiVo apparently silently dropped support for Alexa a long time ago...so disappointing.


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## buckyswider (Aug 31, 2003)

Sigh. Always worked for me up until today. Now Alexa says "Tuning to <channel> on provider". And of course nothing happens on the mini.

I used this ALL THE TIME because I could never remember the freakin' channel numbers!!!

Yep, Tivo is going to the land of suck.


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## bugriley (12 mo ago)

morac said:


> The Tivo software has a "screen reader" (TTS) mode which reads things off the screen, so I would assume that would satisfy any ADA regulations.
> 
> https://support.tivo.com/articles/Knowledge/Accessibility-Screen-Reader-or-Text-to-Speech


I don't see how it would meet ADA regulations. My father is a quadriplegic. He can only control things by voice... cannot push the mic button on the remote. Alexa is how he controls everything.


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