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alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW

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scargill

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #30 on: December 18, 2016, 11:34:41 am »
I am not a beginner, I don't have a slow system and I don't have a slow phone. I have an HTC ONE M8 with 64GB FLASH. It works very quickly.

The Amazon Alexa app is BY A LONG WAY the slowest APP on the phone - slow to start up that is. 12 seconds at least to come to life.

Worse, when you in a supermarket and you want your shopping list- you can't do anything without a connection and if you put your phone in your pocket and pull it out some time later you have to wait all over again -  whoever designed this clearly NEVER goes shopping.

mike27oct

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #31 on: December 18, 2016, 03:01:09 pm »
@scargill

You have a unique problem, because I just opened the Alexa app from scratch on my iPhone, and it took 5 seconds to get to the home menu. We have iphones and iPads and Kindle Fire tablet and all access the app just fine.  And, when shopping our phones access the shopping list via our ATT cellular access and work fine, too.

Mantis

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #32 on: December 27, 2016, 08:36:23 am »
Wow. I really hope most of this forum's users aren't condescending sods like Mike or I imagine I'll end up going elsewhere to discuss the Echo quite soon. I got my Echo only a few days ago, and YES, the app is extremely slow for me.

I've RTFM (as Mike politely suggests) many times to find a solution, but it absolutely is not my connection that's the problem. It's capable of over 200Mbps and I'm usually downloading at over fifteen megabytes a second. I can do everything web-related flawlessly.

Furthermore, I think it's actually the mobile website and its compatibility with Safari that's the problem here. Perhaps some of you have a more recent version of Safari installed but I generally avoid updates as my iPhone is jailbroken. I have a 5S. So why Safari and not the app? The app is just a wrapper for the website. In other words, there's nothing special about the app and it just opens the website for you in its own interface.

With that in mind, we can assume that the Echo website might work properly in another browser, rather than Safari. Yes, I've had success myself. My own workaround is to install the Puffin browser and open the website that way. It's a bit of a cumbersome method that we shouldn't have to go through, but for me it works. In the meantime though I hope Amazon sorts this out.

Offline jwlv

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Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #33 on: December 27, 2016, 02:01:04 pm »
In my opinion, Mantis, if you're using a jailbroken iPhone, then it might be something that Amazon doesn't want to support.

Look at it this way. If you go to YouTube with an old computer, running Internet Explorer 8 with an old version of Flash Player, YouTube will prominently display a message saying it's not supported and that you should update to a more recent browser.  YouTube won't fix that because it's your equipment or software that creates the problem.

I know that it's not confirmed, but if using an old version of Safari is causing the Alexa app to run extremely slow, then you already know what to do.

Just out of curiosity, what IOS version are you using on your jailbroken iPhone 5s?

mike27oct

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #34 on: December 27, 2016, 02:04:22 pm »
@Mantis

>>>  and YES, the app is extremely slow for me.

If Alexa app is slow for you, but not for the vast majority of us forum users, then troubleshooting logic suggests the problem is on the user's side, not Amazon's.  Why use the Safari browser if you have an iPhone, (with app) anyway??


Mantis

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #35 on: December 27, 2016, 04:22:03 pm »
In my opinion, Mantis, if you're using a jailbroken iPhone, then it might be something that Amazon doesn't want to support.

I don't think this is intentional. It would be a sweeping generalisation to conclude that all iPhone users using an outdated browser have jailbroken their iPhones, and thus must suffer consequences for doing so. (As a side note, contrary to popular belief a lot of people don't jailbreak their phones for illegal software. One example is that I can use the very handy Flux on my iPhone thanks to it being jailbroken. That wouldn't have been possible otherwise.) The truth is that a lot of people choose to avoid updates anyway, regardless of whether they've flashed their phone or not. This goes for Android too.

Look at it this way. If you go to YouTube with an old computer, running Internet Explorer 8 with an old version of Flash Player, YouTube will prominently display a message saying it's not supported and that you should update to a more recent browser.  YouTube won't fix that because it's your equipment or software that creates the problem.

Again, this is simply a bad argument. IE8 was released nearly eight years ago. To answer your question about the OS version I'm running, it's one of the 8.4 versions released at the end of June last year. That's only a year and a half. The change from Flash to HTML5 changed the web entirely, which is why it's a bad analogy since we're just talking about minor changes in Safari here. If my theory is correct, a year and a half is all it takes for a bunch of customers to be stuck in a web because of sloppy programming. Amazon could fix this and I hope that they will. But this isn't the customers' faults.

I know that it's not confirmed, but if using an old version of Safari is causing the Alexa app to run extremely slow, then you already know what to do.

Correct. I'll continue using my workarounds until Amazon produces their own solution to a problem that is likely affecting hundreds of customers, if not more.

If Alexa app is slow for you, but not for the vast majority of us forum users, then troubleshooting logic suggests the problem is on the user's side, not Amazon's.  Why use the Safari browser if you have an iPhone, (with app) anyway??

Sorry, but your question isn't clear. Are you asking why I'm using the Safari browser in general? It's a very functional browser, and even with a jailbroken iPhone it still (to me at least) remains as the most accessible and efficient one. That's why I have a problem with it not working in Safari for some of us. Most don't even know a workaround like the one I came up with and they're stuck not being able to use the app since like I said, it probably relies on the Safari APIs as a wrapper. I do hope some find my "Puffin" (or try other browsers too) suggestion useful, but I don't think this is an isolated incident.

One thing I can't figure out is why the two of you seem pretty defensive when it comes to criticism of Amazon and their part in this issue. Customer buys expensive device. Customer can't connect to the control panel of said device even though their connection is fine. Now using your logic, customer is at fault for not being to connect despite indeed "reading the fucking manual". Company gets off scot-free, because company did nothing wrong and has no obligation to help the customer out.

Seems legit.  :D

Offline jwlv

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Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #36 on: December 27, 2016, 04:52:31 pm »
I did not intend to be defensive of Amazon or Echo. If I gave you the wrong impression, I apologize. I'm fairly neutral when it comes to that. I was stating what I thought to be correct, although it was only my opinion.

At one time I also wanted to jailbreak my iPhone because there was a certain app that I wanted to run. But I decided against it due to the problems that may arise later on. When I was on Android, every Android device I owned was rooted. I had good reason for it because there were legitimate things I wanted to do that the stock Android did not allow.

Anyway, I did check on the IOS Alexa app and found out that Amazon states it supports IOS 8+. Since you are running IOS 8.4, there should be no problems. So there must be something else that's causing it to run slowly.


mike27oct

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #37 on: December 27, 2016, 05:37:44 pm »
To clarify my question for you, I asked why do you use the browser instead of the Alexa app on the phone?

To respond to this comment:  "One thing I can't figure out is why the two of you seem pretty defensive when it comes to criticism of Amazon and their part in this issue." 

Nobody is defending Amazon; it's just that you are being such a PITA that you are right and others (including Amazon) are wrong.

And, since we are on acronyms for expressions again, I never told you to RTFM, although I have told some others being insistive PITAs, for sure; here, and elsewhere.   People who come in new to forums with both guns ablazing kind of PMO.

Suggestion: why not get a refund for your new Echo device?  Amazon is real good about returns.

Mantis

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #38 on: December 28, 2016, 07:29:29 am »
I did not intend to be defensive of Amazon or Echo. If I gave you the wrong impression, I apologize. I'm fairly neutral when it comes to that. I was stating what I thought to be correct, although it was only my opinion.

I also apologise if I jumped to conclusions about you.

At one time I also wanted to jailbreak my iPhone because there was a certain app that I wanted to run. But I decided against it due to the problems that may arise later on. When I was on Android, every Android device I owned was rooted. I had good reason for it because there were legitimate things I wanted to do that the stock Android did not allow.

Jailbreaking is certainly something that shouldn't be done on a whim. With that being said, it should be possible for somebody who has jailbroken their iPhone or iPad to upgrade the OS or even remove traces that it was even jailbroken in the first place. The problem is that doing so will undo anything you had previously installed from rooting. Since I've had a much better iPhone experience from doing this I hope you can understand that taking that action just because one control panel isn't loading nearly at all and might not even work after the upgrade is something I'm hesitant about.

Previously I was an Android user but as I got my iPhone free for my software development work I've been using it ever since. This is just unfortunate and I'd like to know from others who face this issue their version of iOS, or even if they're getting it with an Android device.

Anyway, I did check on the IOS Alexa app and found out that Amazon states it supports IOS 8+. Since you are running IOS 8.4, there should be no problems. So there must be something else that's causing it to run slowly.

You're right that it does say this in their documentation. I'll try getting through to Amazon's technical teams (not an easy thing despite them having good customer service overall) and tell them my findings (including mentioning others who face the same problem), also asking if they have any possible workarounds of their own.

To clarify my question for you, I asked why do you use the browser instead of the Alexa app on the phone?

I must have said at least three times that the app is just a wrapper and loads the page through Safari, but is presented as an app. The reason why going to the site through the browser tells you to download the app is because (I believe at least) it detects the user agent of the browser, which then directs you to the app store to get the app. The app uses a different user agent so it is able to bypass that. However, if you're able to change your user agent (probably restricted to jailbroken users) you'll find that the browser and app are exactly the same. So it's a bit of a moot question really.

Though, if you were talking about Puffin, this again brings us to the user agent point. Puffin is designed to be like a desktop browser on your phone. (One of its best features is that it runs Flash too.) Therefore it could load the Alexa site as the desktop version or you can change it to pretend to be any other mobile browser. In any case, Puffin works.

Nobody is defending Amazon; it's just that you are being such a PITA that you are right and others (including Amazon) are wrong.

That's just your interpretation. How could I logically disprove someone when I've never been provided with an alternative solution anyway? I do appreciate replies to my posts but I haven't been given any surefire solutions to work from, other than jwlv's suggestion to upgrade based on my own suggestion that it might be due to an old iOS version. It seems he acknowledges that my theory about this being version-related might not be conclusive and if it isn't, upgrading might not solve this at all. Amazon might be able to clear this up so I'll try to get through to them when I have the chance.

And, since we are on acronyms for expressions again, I never told you to RTFM, although I have told some others being insistive PITAs, for sure; here, and elsewhere.

Everybody is a PITA to a cynic.

Suggestion: why not get a refund for your new Echo device?  Amazon is real good about returns.

Why would I do that with a device I otherwise love? I do agree about Amazon being good though. I've ordered from them for over a decade, placing hundreds of orders. I have a better idea though. Before saying something that would lower myself to your level, it's probably better to simply forget that you exist. I think everyone here would be better off if they followed suit. So... activate.

miked

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #39 on: December 31, 2016, 02:58:27 pm »
mudcamper, and others that have run into this issue - have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling?  I was having the same problem and came across this thread in my search.

when I didn't find the answer I tried clear everything off and re-install - it worked.

I went to Settings-General-Storage&ICloud-Storage/Manage Storage and deleted the Alexa app and associated data, after a re-install everything came back up just fine.

Hope it helps.


marples

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #40 on: December 31, 2016, 06:06:52 pm »
Thank You MikeD for the solution that worked for me!  Uninstall and reinstall the App.  Huge difference!  We sometimes forget the simple solution.  Hope it works for everybody else as well.

mike27oct

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #41 on: December 31, 2016, 07:50:36 pm »
This was probably the 1000th time in these forums that uninstall/re-install the app, and to turn the Echo device off and back on have been suggested. 
No matter what the gadgets are, these two steps should be taken first with any equipment or app that has issues.

craigdbl

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #42 on: February 14, 2017, 01:57:59 pm »
Try powering off your phone and then power it back on again. It's been working for me ,although it's a hassle,especially if I'm at the grocery store.I have a Motorola moto g 1st phone.

clew37

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #43 on: August 15, 2017, 08:25:48 pm »
I've had the same slow loading problems, and it's always at peak internet hours too. I've also contacted Amazon and they really do say what the other guy erote. Wait until traffic winds down, is what they told me... I could make a connection, but not hold it. All my other internet stuff works fine. I had to stop using Echo because only Dot seems to connect now...if at all. Made makeup somewhere. I didn't have this much trouble from Windows Vista...

malliekm

Re: alexa app and alexa.amazon.com SO SO SLOW
« Reply #44 on: August 15, 2017, 11:45:09 pm »
>>I didn't have this much trouble from Windows Vista...<<

 ;D ;D ;D
Poor Windows Vista.  Will it go down as MS' worst OS ever!?