Starting in July, you won’t be able to add items to lists in third-party apps like Todoist and AnyList through Alexa voice control with your existing skills. A post on Amazon’s developer site said the company will shut down access to Alexa Shopping and To-Do Lists on July 1.
List skills and Alexa shopping and to-do lists
Starting July 1, 2024, you will no longer be able to access Alexa lists, namely Alexa Shopping and To-Do Lists, using the List skill or the List Management REST API in a skill or app. For other ways to create a custom voice experience, see Steps to Create a Custom Skill. Please contact us if you have any questions.
This means that unless developers choose to build new custom skills, their Alexa integration will stop working and you’ll have to rely on the Alexa app’s built-in list feature to add milk to your shopping list or add milk to your shopping list using your voice. Put “taking out the trash” on your to-do list.
Now, if you enable Alexa Skills, third-party apps can sync with lists in the Alexa app and display that data in their apps. I personally use this feature to add items to my shopping list in AnyList. However, starting July 1, they’ll lose that ability, and you’ll either need to use the Alexa app’s Lists app, or you’ll want the developer of your favorite Lists app to build a custom voice skill to manage the items in their app. list.
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Amazon tells edge Developers can still integrate Alexa List voice control into their apps; they just no longer have access to Alexa List. “We’re making some changes to how developers build listings,” said Amazon PR’s Sarah Zonouzi. “Developers can integrate our custom voice interaction models into their skills for voice control and inventory management.”
She said this offers similar functionality to existing options, with the main difference being that customers will use their voice directly to manage third-party lists, rather than Alexa lists.
any list tells edge It does plan to build custom skills with custom voice interactions and hopes to have them ready by July 1. *Tell AnyList* to add apples to my shopping list” instead of just saying “Alexa, add apples to my shopping list”.
“We are disappointed with Amazon’s decision to remove the List Skill API, especially on such a short notice,” Hunter said. “We expect this change to be disruptive for our customers. Not only will they have to train themselves to say “Tell AnyList…” when talking to Alexa, but if they forget to do so, their command Might still work, even though the item won’t be synchronized with AnyList.
Todoist tells edge It does not plan to develop new custom skills. “We have made the difficult decision to discontinue Alexa integration by July 1, 2024,” said Omar Samuels.
He said there are no current plans to replace it due to the short notice of closure and the resources needed. However, he did say “we will review what possibilities exist to fill the resulting void in the future.”
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Interestingly, a pop-up in the Shopping List section of the Alexa app revealed that the company will also be discontinuing its Alexa Shopping List Offers feature on July 10, 2024. The program links offers to items on your shopping list.
The shopping list feature is an obvious monetization opportunity, so it’s likely Amazon is restructuring here. My guess is that we might see a new shopping list experience with Alexa.
There are going to be a lot of Alexa users who are annoyed.
In the meantime, there are going to be a lot of Alexa users who are annoyed. Adding items to a list is one of the most popular uses for voice assistants, along with playing music, setting timers and asking what time it is.
I find dedicated list apps like AnyList and Todoist easier to use than the Alexa app’s lists when pushing a grocery cart. While it’s improved over time—you can now pin shopping lists to the Favorites section of the app, and there’s a home screen widget—it’s not as user-friendly as a dedicated list app friendly.
In fact, most third-party list apps have multiple ways to add items to your list – including desktop apps and support for other voice assistants. This is helpful if you live in a multi-ecosystem household.
However, Google has also turned off Google Home’s voice command integration with the list app, thus disconnecting AnyList and Any.Do users. Both apps now only work with Apple Siri on iPhone. Todoist also works with Siri and supports Google Assistant, but only on Android phones. As a result, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a checklist app that works with multiple voice assistants and across multiple device families.
Updated on May 31st: Added AnyList’s comment on its plans to build custom skills so customers can continue to use voice control in their apps.
