Fixing Sengled Bulbs That Won’t Connect to Alexa: A SmartThings Work‑Around

8/1/25 Update: The work-around is no longer working.

Update: If your Sengled bulbs are still flaky, check out my roundup of Alexa-certified alternatives (Cync, Philips Hue, Linkind) that pair fast and stay connected.

Smart lighting should make life easier, not harder. But in mid‑2025, many smart‑home enthusiasts (myself included) discovered that our Sengled Wi‑Fi bulbs suddenly stopped working with Alexa. We could still control the lights through the Sengled app, yet Alexa could neither find the devices nor respond to voice commands. When I tried to re‑link the Sengled skill in the Alexa app, it failed with an “Unable to link” or “Not authorized” error. Other users reported that the Sengled skill was missing entirely from Alexa’s Skills library and that attempting to re‑enable it didn’t work. This breakdown left our lights unresponsive through Alexa, even though the bulbs themselves were fine.

If you’re facing this frustration, there’s good news: you can restore Alexa control by using Samsung’s SmartThings platform as a bridge. Below, I explain what’s going on and provide a step‑by‑step guide to get your lights working again.

What went wrong between Sengled and Alexa?

For years, Sengled offered an Alexa skill that allowed its Wi‑Fi bulbs to be controlled directly via Amazon’s smart speakers. In July 2025, however, users noticed that the Sengled skill disappeared or could not be linked to Alexa—attempts to re‑link the skill produced “unable to link” or “not authorized” errors. On community forums, people noted that their bulbs worked fine through the Sengled app but appeared as unresponsive devices on Alexareddit.com. One Reddit user summed it up: “My Sengled bulbs suddenly stopped working through Alexa… the bulbs kept showing as unresponsive. I unlinked the Sengled skill and then couldn’t get it to re‑link at all”reddit.com.

It’s not entirely clear whether this outage was caused by Amazon (Alexa) or Sengled, but the end result was the same: Alexa lost the ability to communicate with Sengled’s servers, and the official skill effectively broke. Until Sengled and Amazon fix the integration, the easiest work‑around is to use another smart‑home platform—SmartThings—to act as a bridge.

Why SmartThings solves the problem

Samsung’s SmartThings platform supports Sengled devices and has its own Alexa skill that still works. By linking your Sengled account to SmartThings and then connecting SmartThings to Alexa, you give Alexa a working path to reach your bulbs. In other words, rather than trying to control Sengled bulbs directly (which fails because the skill is broken), Alexa communicates with SmartThings, which in turn controls the bulbs. The diagram below illustrates the idea:

The direct Sengled→Alexa connection is broken, but the Sengled→SmartThings→Alexa route works.

Step‑by‑step guide to reconnect your Sengled bulbs to Alexa

Follow these steps to restore voice control via Alexa using SmartThings:

1. Unlink and clean up in Alexa. In the Alexa app, disable the Sengled skill (if it still shows) and delete any unresponsive Sengled bulbs. This prevents Alexa from getting confused by leftover devices.
2. Install and set up SmartThings. Download Samsung’s SmartThings app and create an account. Add your Sengled bulbs by selecting Add device → Partner Devices → Sengled. Log in with your Sengled credentials; SmartThings will automatically import all your Sengled bulbs.
3. Link SmartThings to Alexa. In the Alexa app, go to Skills & Games and search for the SmartThings skill. Enable it, then sign in with your SmartThings account. Alexa will request permission to access your SmartThings devices—approve it.
4. Discover devices. After linking the SmartThings skill, ask Alexa to “discover devices” or tap Add Device → Discover in the app. Alexa should find your Sengled bulbs through SmartThings and list them as new devices.
5. Rename and organize. Your bulbs may show generic names from SmartThings (e.g., “Sengled Bulb 1”). Rename them and add them to groups or routines in Alexa as needed.

That’s it! Once discovered through SmartThings, your Sengled bulbs respond to Alexa commands as if nothing was ever wrong.

Tips and troubleshooting

• Resetting bulbs and clearing caches: If the SmartThings linkage fails, try resetting your Sengled bulbs (power them off and on quickly 10 times) and clearing the cache of both the Sengled and SmartThings apps before re‑adding them.
• Check Wi‑Fi and firmware: Make sure the bulbs are on the same Wi‑Fi network and that both the SmartThings and Sengled apps are updated to the latest version.
• Wait for an official fix: Sengled and Amazon may eventually restore the official skill. If that happens, you can unlink SmartThings and re‑enable the Sengled skill.

Conclusion

While the breakdown between Sengled and Alexa is frustrating, you don’t have to replace your bulbs. By using Samsung SmartThings as an intermediary, you can keep voice control of your lights through Alexa. The fix takes only a few minutes and uses existing, trusted platforms. Until Sengled or Amazon repairs the official integration, this workaround ensures your smart home continues to run smoothly.

Sources

• A Reddit user documented how their Sengled bulbs stopped responding to Alexa and explained that deleting the Alexa skill, linking Sengled to SmartThings, and then adding the SmartThings skill to Alexa restored voice control.
• Comments from another Reddit thread confirmed that the Sengled skill has been removed or fails to link in Alexa, producing “not authorized” errors and leaving bulbs unresponsive.