Google Assistant to drop support for third-party notes apps

If you’ve been using Google Assistant to manage your notes and lists with help from third-party apps like AnyList or Bring, you’ll need a new workflow starting next month.

Google Assistant will drop its integrations with “non-Google” notes and lists apps beginning June 20, according to a notice on a Google Assistant help page.

After that date, those who want to use Google Assistant to create notes and lists via voice commands will have to settle for Google Keep, or–if they want to use AnyList, Bring, or another third-party app–switch their allegiance to a new voice assistant like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri.

In a blog post signed by AnyList founders Jeff Hunter and Jason Marr, the developers called Google’s decision to yank Google Assistant’s notes and lists integration with third-party apps “frustrating and disappointing.”

“We are continuing to communicate with Google and hope to be able to support Google Assistant on Android devices again in the future, but we don’t have anything to announce at this time,” the AnyList developers wrote, adding that AnyList users who still wanted to use a voice assistant with the app should consider jumping to Alexa or Siri.

Google Assistant has had a rocky history when it comes to integrating with notes and lists apps. 

Google’s voice assistant originally integrated with Google Keep for notes and lists before switching over to the bare-bones Google Express, later known as Google Shopping.

In 2019, Google finally switched the Assistant’s native notes and lists app back to Google Keep. Even better, it rolled out a Google Assistant integration for third-party notes and lists apps, opening the door to the likes of AnyList, Bring, and Any.do.

Now, just four years after rolling out its Google Assistant integration for third-party notes apps, Google is unceremoniously shelving it.

While Google Keep is a powerful tool when it comes to creating and managing both notes and lists, it lacks some of the key features of third-party notes apps, such as AnyList’s database of recipes and meal-planning functionality.

Google’s yanking of third-party app integration for notes and lists through Google Assistant comes on the heels of Google I/O earlier this month, where the Assistant was largely shoved aside in favor of Google’s AI-powered Bard.