Alexa Integration (General and Shopping List)

I currently own Omni Focus Pro (and every other Omni Pro product) for Mac (not IOS), but use Any.do for IOS. I would love to use only a single ToDo app, but refuse to spend $49.99 or $74.99 for an app that cannot even integrate with my Alexa’s shopping list feature. This is something that my wife and I use regularly with Any.do. Shopping lists are an important part of our household task lists. We need grocery items, items from Home Depot, etc. for various projects. While in the middle of something (hands full in the kitchen, workshop, or nursery), it is very handy to be able to speak to Alexa and add an item (milk, butter, screws, plywood, diapers,…) to a shopping list. It is also neat to be able to add ToDo items vocally (with your hands full). Have you ever tried writing or typing while changing a baby?

As Alexa provides 3rd party integrations for shopping list (and applications), why have you refused to support this functionality in your very expensive, supposedly top-end, application suite? Let me know when you do, then I might consider paying an additional $50 for an IOS extension to the $100 application I already own.

Products supporting Alexa and their prices (desktop/web and IOS):
Any.do - $2.99/month for premium (they also have a free version)
Todoist - $3/month for premium (they also have a free version)

For $50 that is 1.5 years of each of these premium services; just over 2 years for $74.99. Why would I buy the IOS version of Omni Focus that lacks this important functionality?

Any yes you can hack anything with IFTTT, but I should not have to use a third-party when I have paid more than $150 (and then $50+ every few years) for software.

Tim

1 Like

OmniFocus is not a simple to-do list app to make a shopping list. It is so much more than this!
OmniFocus lets you manage projects in details (no other app is as powerful as OmniFocus). The last part of your message is completely wrong: OmniFocus has a one time payment fee, so you can run that version of OF and any subsequent updates Apple releases that continue to support that version –– that version does not expire. Instead, Todoist, Anydo and others have an yearly fee and once you decide to cancel the subscription, you’ll no longer have access to it.
After all, in the long run the prices are not so different from Todoist if you keep in mind that updates to a major release of OmniFocus have a discount.
They are different products for different purposes.
Please, keep this in mind.

2 Likes

I like to use OmniFocus for my projects and repeating tasks. Then I use another app like any.do for my shopping list. I don’t mind having a separate app that is focused on my shopping list and it doesn’t clutter up my work stuff.

I don’t know if Omni Group has “refused” to support this. You can send an email to omnifocus@omnigroup.com to vote for this feature request. Feature requests will be added to their internal database and considered during whatever meetings they probably have to plan their work.

1 Like

As both Alexa and OmniFocus are both mature products and since there have been other requests for Alexa support (in this forum) dating back years, the fact that this feature does not exist coupled with the lack of response from Omni Group seems to imply a lack of interest by the OmniFocus team to support the feature.

If I am incorrect, I encourage someone from Omni to speak up and correct me.

I agree that Any.do integrates well with Alexa. This is what I use for both shopping lists and task management at the current time. The premium version of the service even allows multiple stacks to separate projects from shopping lists etc. Yet I can still capture an item via Alexa while I am busy (hands full) and then move to the appropriate category/project when I am on my IOS device or computer. A reasonable service for $3/month or $99/year (web, IOS, and Android for one price). I cannot do this with my $100 OmniFocus Pro Mac even if I paid the extra $75 for the IOS companion app.

1 Like

I can think of several reasons why OmniGroup would be hesitant to integrate a 3rd party service such as Alexa. For one, you have no control over the api requirements Amazon puts up when they want to. The dependency on their roadmap alone would make the development of your own software very difficult to plan. And then people would also like Google Assistant integration, Cortana integration etc. The integration list is endless.

With regard to OF cost: we managed to save multiple copies worth of OF by stopping unnecessary subscriptions on time, claiming outstanding refunds, preventing late-fees etc. This all depends on your ability to getting things done without OF of course.

Perhaps you could try out the “Alexa to OF maildrop” recipe on the IFTTT website? It requires very little hacking from your side, and at least gives you a work around while waiting for an answer to your request.

3 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.