How to Connect Alexa to Pandora

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Updated December 13, 2019

It's possible to listen to Pandora using your Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or other Alexa device. You can even rate music as it plays, which helps Pandora cater custom radio stations to your personal tastes.

Instructions in this article apply to all Alexa-enabled devices.

How to Connect Alexa to Pandora Using Your Smartphone

Before you begin, you must set up your Alexa device using the Amazon Alexa app, which you can download from the Apple App Store or Google Play. You will also need to set up a Pandora account. To connect to Pandora from your Alexa device with a smartphone or tablet:

Launch the Amazon Alexa app and tap the Menu icon in the top-left corner.
Tap Settings.
Scroll down and tap Music under Alexa Preferences.
Tap the plus sign (+) to the right of Link New Service.
Tap Pandora.
Tap Enable to Use.
Tap I have a Pandora account.
Log in using your Pandora account's email and password.
Select Approve access, then tap the X in the top-left corner to return to the Amazon Alexa app.

How to Play Pandora Stations With Alexa

Now you can use Alexa voice commands to play Pandora stations. For example:

"Alexa, Play station on Pandora."
"Alexa, Play song or artist on Pandora."
"Alexa, create a artist or song station on Pandora."

Adding "on Pandora" to your command tells Alexa that you want to use Pandora instead of the default music service. It's also possible to make Pandora the default so that you can omit "on Pandora."

Pandora stations are usually named after the band or song used to create them, but if you added a custom name to the radio station, you can use that as well.

Alexa Commands for Pandora

A few other generic music commands that work with Pandora include:

"Alexa, pause."
"Alexa, play."
"Alexa, stop."
"Alexa, skip."
"Alexa, volume up."
"Alexa, volume down."
"Alexa, what song is this?"
"Alexa, thumbs up!"

The "Alexa, thumbs up" command tells Pandora to play more songs similar to what's currently playing.

How to Set Pandora as Your Default Music Player on Alexa

To make Pandora your default music player:

Launch the Amazon Alexa app and tap the Menu icon in the top-left corner.
Tap Settings.
Scroll down and tap Music under Alexa Preferences.
Scroll down tap Default Services.
Scroll down and tap Pandora under Default Station.

You will still need to add "station" to your commands (e.g. "Alexa, play Beatles station"). If you say "Alexa, play Beatles," she will shuffle Beatles songs using Amazon Music.