Amazon Alexa to lose this shopping feature, here’s how it affects users – Times of India

Starting July, Amazon will shut down access to Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists through third-party apps like Todoist and AnyList, significantly altering how users manage their lists with voice commands. The Verge has reported that the company has announced the upcoming change on Amazon’s developer site, which means that popular third-party list apps will no longer be able to sync with Alexa’s lists using their existing skills or List Management.

Until now, users could seamlessly add items to their shopping or to-do lists via third-party apps by simply speaking to Alexa. For instance, saying “Alexa, add milk to my shopping list” would update the list in AnyList. Post-July 1, this integration will cease, forcing users to either use Alexa’s built-in list features or hope that developers create new custom skills.

Amazon emphasised 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,” a shift that may disrupt current user habits.

AnyList is actively working on 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. 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 are likely to frustrate many Alexa users, as list management is a highly utilised 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.