Amazon is rolling out a new Alexa Plus upgrade designed to make its AI-powered assistant far more useful around the connected home. The update expands Alexa Plus smart home compatibility, allowing it to work with devices from brands including Bosch, Delta, Ecovacs, iRobot, Yale Home, Whirlpool, Tapo, Eufy, and more. Instead of forcing users to know which gadget handles what, Alexa Plus will be able to interpret the request and send it to the right device automatically.
Amazon offered a laundry-room example to show how the feature could work in everyday life. A user with a compatible washer might say, “Alexa, my kid’s soccer jersey could use a deep clean, but the tag says cold wash only.” Alexa Plus would then sort through the washing machine’s available settings and select the appropriate cycle. Behind the scenes, the expanded integrations rely on Amazon’s new AI developer toolkit, which is intended to help device manufacturers bring more advanced and specialized features into Alexa Plus, including functions that previously could not be supported.
Amazon is also broadening Alexa Plus beyond smart home hardware by embracing the Model Context Protocol, or MCP, an open-source framework that helps AI models communicate with outside apps, services, and tools. The move should make it simpler for more companies to build Alexa Plus integrations. Brands and services such as Canva, Headspace, Priceline, Lyft, Cengage, Virgin Atlantic, Weekend, and others are expected to introduce support later this year.
Travel and commerce will be part of that expansion as well. Priceline, for instance, will let users search hotel listings and book travel through Alexa Plus. Amazon says Priceline will join Atom Tickets, Cengage, Fandango, and Taskrabbit in adding support for Amazon Wallet payments, giving Alexa Plus users a more direct way to complete purchases through the assistant.
