Amazon shuts down access to Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists via third-party apps like Todoist and AnyList starting July 1st, 2024.
This was announced in a post from Alexa’s Developer’s side.
This will significantly change how users manage their lists using voice commands, as the popular list apps will no longer be able to sync with Alexa’s lists using existing skills or List Management. REST API.
Until now, users could easily add items to their shopping or to-do lists via third-party apps by speaking to Alexa.
For example, saying, “Alexa, add sugar to my shopping list,” would update the list in AnyList.
After July, this integration will cease, forcing users to either use Alexa’s built-in list features or hope that developers create new custom skills.
Amazon emphasized that developers can still enable voice control of lists within their apps using a custom voice interaction model. However, this requires users to adopt new phrasing, such as “Alexa, tell AnyList to add apples to my grocery list,” which may disrupt user habits.
AnyList is actively developing a custom skill to maintain voice functionality, but co-founder Jeff Hunter expressed disappointment, noting the short notice and potential user inconvenience.
Meanwhile, Todoist has decided not to pursue a custom skill, planning to sunset their Alexa integration by the deadline due to resource constraints.
Additionally, Amazon will discontinue its Alexa Shopping List Deals feature on July 10, 2024. This service linked users with deals from Amazon, Whole Foods, and other retailers, suggesting Amazon may be planning a revamped shopping list experience in the future.
The upcoming changes will likely frustrate many Alexa users, as list management is a highly utilized feature of the voice assistant. Dedicated list apps like AnyList and Todoist offer superior usability compared to Alexa’s native lists, especially while shopping. This move parallels Google’s previous shutdown of voice command integrations with list apps, leaving users with fewer cross-platform options for managing lists via voice assistants.
Google has also removed the ability for Google Assistant on Nest Hub devices to integrate with third-party notes and list apps like AnyList, Any.do, and Bring… Shopping Lists on June 20th.
This means that after that date, it will no longer be possible to create, view, or manage shopping lists and notes using these apps on a Nest Hub.
The only note app that may still work is Google Keep, but it’s unclear if Google will keep that integration.
Google is also deprecating support for third-party intelligent assistants, such as Google displays, in general.
The Nest Hub can still display photos from Google Photos, control smart home devices, play YouTube videos and music, and provide hands-free help from List Management. REST API..
However, the loss of third-party notes and list integration significantly reduces device functionality.