SURE Universal has announced that Alexa voice control is now part of the SURE Universal software remote platform. The SURE app for iOS and Android allows you to use your smartphone as a universal remote control, and the platform is compatible with most wireless protocols, including RF, IR, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Alexa support is available now for Android devices and coming to iOS in September.

From SURE Universal
SURE Universal, creators of next-generation control solutions for home electronics and appliances, introduces Amazon Alexa integration to the highly popular SURE Universal Software Remote.

Amazon Alexa integration makes the SURE Universal Software Remote a complete solution for total control of your home. Once linked to your Amazon Alexa account, users have full control of their smart home from any room in the house or on the go. Turn your thermostat or air conditioner down from your car on the way home from work or turn on lights so you don't come home to a dark house; all of this can now be accomplished from a simple voice command in the SURE Universal Software Remote app. Once home, use the SURE Universal app to control your home theater setup to turn on a movie, turn down lights and relax, having control of everything from the comfort of your chair with your smartphone.

Although voice recognition has been around for decades, accuracy has never quite reached acceptable levels to fully engage users and manufacturers to rely on the technology to control products and appliances with voice commands. With the launch of the Amazon Echo and Alexa platform, Amazon has managed to improve accuracy and produce one of the most successful voice recognition ecosystems to date. With over 10,000+ skills available for Alexa, control of smart home and IoT devices is easy and readily available.

The SURE Universal Remote is first software-based universal remote control to take advantage of the Open Connectivity framework. Already a popular download worldwide for home entertainment control, the SURE Universal app recently became the first mobile client application to receive the vaunted OCF certification. This positions SURE Universal as a control platform for virtually any electronic device, regardless of its application, functionality, location, or enabling technology. Users can now interact with any of them through a unified experience, through their most familiar technology of all, the smartphone. With OCF support, SURE Universal is future-proofed to control connected devices of the future.

With the SURE Universal Platform, appliance manufacturers and vendors no longer have to worry about end user incompatibilities, or being locked into any one enabling protocol decision, because the SURE system is able to communicate with any of them. Any wireless protocol in common use, ranging from specialized smart home RF technologies to common mediums like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and running all the way to legacy infrared (IR) devices that might be decades old, can be controlled by the SURE Universal Platform.

Future versions of the SURE Universal Remote app will also include support for Google Home and Apple Homekit, making the SURE Universal Remote app the only smartphone application needed to control any connected device.

The SURE Universal Remote App with Alexa integration launches this week for Android devices and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. An iOS version with Alexa support will be available in September 2017.

Additional Resources
• Visit the SURE Universal website for more product information.
• Check out the Remotes & System Control news archive to read similar product announcements.