Beginning in July, you won’t be able to use Alexa voice control to add items to lists on third-party applications like AnyList and Todoist using their current Skills. On July 1st, according to a post on Amazon’s developer site, access to Alexa Shopping and To-Do lists will be discontinued.

This implies that until developers decide to create a new custom skill, their Alexa integrations will stop functioning. As a result, you will need to use the built-in list feature of the Alexa app to use voice commands to do tasks like adding milk to your grocery list or adding “take out the trash” to your to-do list.

Third-party apps can now synchronize with lists in the Alexa app and display that data in their own app if you enable their Alexa Skills. But, they will no longer have this feature as of July 1st, so you’ll either have to rely on the lists in the Alexa app or hope that the creator of your preferred list app creates a unique voice skill to allow you to manage lists within its apps.

According to Amazon, developers can still incorporate voice control for lists using Alexa into their apps, but they will no longer be able to access Alexa lists. According to Sarah Zonouzi of Amazon PR, “We are making some changes to the way that developers build lists.” “To allow voice control and list management, developers can incorporate our unique voice interaction model into their skill.”

She noted that while the functions are comparable to those of the current alternatives, the primary distinction is that third-party lists would be managed by the user using voice commands rather than Alexa lists.

AnyList confirmed to The Verge that it intends to develop a unique voice interaction skill and that it should be available by July 1. The drawback, according to co-founder and CEO Jeff Hunter, is that users won’t be able to simply say, “Alexa, add apples to my grocery list,” but will instead need to say, “Alexa tell AnyList to add apples to my grocery list.”

“We are disappointed with Amazon’s decision to kill the List Skill API, especially on such short notice,” said Hunter. “We expect this change to be disruptive for our customers. Not only will they have to train themselves to say ‘tell AnyList to…’ when talking to Alexa, but if they forget to do that, then their command may still appear to work, even though the item won’t be synced with AnyList.”

Because of the short notice of the shutdown and the resources needed, he said, they do not currently have plans to work on a substitute. “We will be reviewing what possibilities exist to fill any resulting gaps in the future,” he did remark, though.

Curiously, a pop-up in the Alexa app’s shopping list section announces that the service will be discontinued on July 10th, 2024 by the firm. This app helps you find discounts for the things on your shopping list at Whole Foods, Amazon, and other retailers.

It seems obvious that a shopping list function would be profitable, so it’s likely that Amazon is pulling back on this one.

There will be a lot of irritated Alexa users in the interim. One of the most common uses for voice assistants is to add items to lists. Other common uses include playing music, setting timers, and inquiring about the time.

It’s not as user-friendly as a dedicated list app, despite improvements over time, such as the ability to pin the shopping list to the Favorites part of the app and the addition of a homescreen widget.

The majority of third-party list apps also support different voice assistants and offer desktop applications as additional means of adding things to lists. If your home is a multi-ecosystem, that is beneficial.

Nevertheless, Google has also severed ties with AnyList and Any.Do customers by shutting off its Google Home voice command interfaces with list apps. These two apps are currently limited to using Apple Siri on iPhones. Not only does Todoist support Siri, but it also works with Google Assistant—but only on Android phones. Consequently, finding a list app that functions with several voice assistants and across multiple device families is becoming more and more difficult.