@Spicymikey 

A few thoughts, who knows how valid they may be:

1)  I've found Alexa seems to monitor and be much more aware of connectivity than the Kasa ap does.  If i'm going to see disconnects and etc its via Alexa first.

2)  I would not rule out external influences affecting your wi-fi network.  In fact, it's my first thought.

3)   I have a few routines that call all my switches at the same time.  It was not 100% succesful all the time. I broke the switches into three smaller routines and placed a two second delay between calliing them.  100% success now.  1 second should be been enough too.

4)   I've also been very aggressive w/tuning my wifi network.  Am still going to have to relocate one of my AP's because I just don't get the signal strength I want at some switches (you HAVE looked, right?)

5)  It has been, and remains, my thought that the Amazon cloud is not excuting your commands.  I believe your local Alexa devices make the wifi call to your network, and your Kasa devices execute.  Ergo AWS is not executing or communicating W/Kasa.   Scripts in cloud (both sides) yes, execution and inter-communication no.  These things said,, now we bring your Alexa device (s) into question as to their comm reliability.

6)  When in doubt a whole-house reboot solves strange things.   I just kill power at the main, let it sit for 10 seconds, and power back up.

But, hey, what do I know.  Best of luck none-the-less.

  @dafish Thanks for that well thought out response.  It is a good troubleshooting plan.  Unfortunately, I've done all that already.  There is no question any longer the problem is not local.  Something broke with the Alexa/Kasa interface.   I'm certain now because I decided to delete ALL the 56 device entries from Alexa, disable the skill, clear all cache and uninstall both the Kasa and Alexa app, and then reinstall and relink them.   Alexa indeed found the 56 devices again and loaded them to the Alexa database.  The devices all work for a short while.  Then they give the "Device is unresponsive" message again.  Some hang on for a while longer.  But eventually they all go dead.   

I have a support email into Kasa.  I also went onto the Kasa Skill in Alexa and I can see a bunch of comments about my problem.  They all started being posted within the last couple weeks.  I added a comment there as well.

I use an Android phone and tablet to run the kasa app.  No Apple stuff.  But I don't think thats the problem.  If I had to bet money I'd say it is a backend problem between the Kasa servers and the Alexa servers.

I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.  Thanks again for your thoughts on troubleshooting.

  @Spicymikey 

If you ever figure out it maybe share with the rest of us?   Also, perhaps Carl or Riley will comment?

  @Solla-topee 

Sorry for the delayed response.  I did not get a notification of your post.  

To clarify, things work fine in Kasa app aside from explainable wifi dead spots.  I am addressing that with more mesh hubs.  It works local or remote just fine.  Doesn't seem to be an issue with the Kasa backend or Kasa app

The problem is only with Alexa.  It used to work fine for years and in mid October started to have issues. 

All software and firmware is up to date.  Phone is Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

It seems to mme the Kasa skill is not updating the Alexa database properly.  Sometimes deleting the devices in Alexa and then rediscovering them will work, but then they will become unresponsive again in a short period of time (usually a few hours).  Deleting again will work again and the cycle will repeat.

Another clue; when I try to delete the device in Alexa is says Alex cannot delete device.  But after that error message the device shows up as being a "New Device" and often times works again.  Sometimes it still doesn't work and deleting again will indeed remove it from the Alexa list so I can rediscover it fresh.

Its all a mess and I can't believe I'm the only one reporting this in the community.  Someone from Kasa posted a response to someones 1 star review on Alexa that they are aware of the issue and the next version of Kasa app will be out shortly.   

Mike

  @Spicymikey I'm having a similar experience after years of no issues.  Just started today.  I'll see if this persists.

Same. Years of no problems, now starting today half of my 32 devices are unresponsive in both the alexa and Google apps. Kasa app works fine. The basic troubleshooting steps were no help.

KevinBragg wrote

  @Spicymikey I'm having a similar experience after years of no issues.  Just started today.  I'll see if this persists.

I've also started having this same issues between Alexa and also the Kasa App 

I have 38 Kasa devices and multiples are showing unresponsive in Alexa - I can delete the device in Alexa and when re-discovered it often works (but not always and I have to go through multiple delete & rediscover cycles) 

As per above post, the device will work in Kasa App but not in Alexa

But also weird stuff with the Kasa App too - if I refresh the device page there, I will get a bunch of devices showing offline - refresh again and they come bask - or a different subset of them. (but regardless I still have Alexa showing a device is unresponsive that works in Kasa App) 

This is becoming intolerable, only started about a week ago ... it is a MAJOR issue! 

Something has DEFINITELY changed recently - like others, long term user with no issues. No change to my local network, this certainly looks like a Kasa Server Issue. 

Solla-topee wrote

Hi   @Spicymikey 

Thank you for reaching out to the community. 

We haven't seen similar feedback with Alexa recently. 

Can you share a screenshot of the error message with the exact time stamp, I will check with our team about what's could be the reason. 

• Please confirm you can turn on/off smart devices in the kasa app when the phone is on mobile data or non-local Wi-Fi network. 
• Confirm Alexa APP is up-to-date & kasa APP is up to date 

 

Btw, do you have any other smart devices that works fine in the Alexa app? May I know your Alexa APP & Kasa APP version, the model of your phone and its OS version, thank you very much！

 

  @Solla-topee Well , there are certainly multiples of us with this issue now reporting it here (and likely many more, who are not members of this forum) - so the 'haven't seen it' doesn't wash any more. 

Yes, I can operate these same switches in the Kasa App 

Yes, my Alexa App is current (Samsung S22+ android 12) - version 2022.21
Interestingly this was updated last week! 

Kasa TP-Link App 3.03 Build 1098

  @Spicymikey Same problem with switches. Everything works fine in the KASA app, but not in the Alexa app. One note, my KASA plugs had the same unresponsive problem. There was a firmware update in the KASA app for the plugs. After the update the plugs responded in Alexa. There was not firmware update for the switches available. Hopefully, a firmware update will become available to correct the problem with the switches.