Deprecated Features
Amazon deprecated the following features from the Alexa Skills Kit.
Alexa.CustomIntent interface
The Alexa.CustomIntent interface is no longer available. If you want to create an Alexa Smart Home skill that extends the built-in utterances with your own custom voice interaction model, see About Multi-Capability Skills (MCS).
Alexa.EventDetectionSensor interface
As of February 2023, you can no longer use the Alexa.EventDetectionSensor smart home interface. You can't create new skills or submit updates to existing skills that include this interface. If you want to support event detection in your smart home skill, use Alexa.SmartVision.ObjectDetectionSensor instead. For details about security interfaces, see Understand Smart Home Security Skills.
Alexa.MediaMetadata interface
As of March 15, 2023, you can no longer use the Alexa.MediaMetadata smart home interface. You can't create new skills or submit updates to existing skills that include this interface.
For details about security interfaces, see Understand Smart Home Security Skills.
Amazon Pay for Alexa skills
Amazon Pay for Alexa Skills is deprecated. The Amazon Pay Alexa payments functionality you are using through your Alexa skill will be disabled on the following dates and regions:
- December 31, 2022 in the EU and the UK
- January 31, 2023 in Japan
- March 12, 2023 in the US
Following these dates, the Amazon Pay Alexa payments functionality will no longer be available in your Alexa skill.
If you want to continue to sell physical goods or services through your skill, you will need to enable customers to link their Alexa account with an account they have with your service and pay using a payment method they provide directly to you. For details, see Add Account Linking to Your Alexa Skill. You can also continue operating the skill for other purposes, such as customer assistance without payment functionality. For further information, see the Alexa Skills Kit. Alternatively, you can choose to disable your skill.
Any skill with Amazon Pay payments functionality will be removed from the Alexa skill store on the following dates and regions:
- December 31, 2022 in the EU and the UK
- January 31, 2023 in Japan
- March 12, 2023 in the US
Developers are welcome to re-submit their skill without Amazon Pay for certification to be published on the Alexa Skill store.
After Amazon Pay Alexa payments functionality is disabled, you will continue to find all completed Amazon Pay transactions under Manage Transactions and Payments Reports in your Amazon Pay Seller Central account. After Amazon Pay Alexa payments functionality is disabled, you will no longer be able to accept any new Amazon Pay Alexa payment transactions. After Amazon Pay Alexa payments functionality is disabled, you can still process refunds or handle claims through your Amazon Pay Seller Central account. Your Amazon Pay Seller Central account isn't impacted and you can continue to offer Amazon Pay in your online shop with your current integration using the Amazon Pay button.
If you want to learn more about earning money with your Alexa skill, see Add Amazon Associates to Alexa Shopping Actions, Understand In-Skill Purchasing, and Understand Paid Skills.
Automatic Speech Recognition Evaluation tool
As of February 2023, the Automatic Speech Recognition Evaluation tool and REST API are deprecated. The tool is no longer available on the Alexa developer portal.
Automated Test Sets tool
As of February 2023, the Automated Test Sets tool is deprecated. The tool is no longer available on the Alexa developer portal.
Baby Activity skills and the Alexa.Health interfaces
As of May 21, 2020, the Baby Activity Skill API is no longer available. You can no longer use the following interfaces:
Alexa.Health.DiaperChangeAlexa.Health.InfantFeedingAlexa.Health.SleepAlexa.Health.Weight
Use the custom skill APIs to implement baby activity logging in your Alexa skill. For details, see Understand Custom Skills.
Echo Button skills
As of June 15, 2020, the Echo Buttons Skill API interfaces (GameEngine and GadgetController) are no longer available to new skills. If you're interested in building voice experiences with other types of Alexa Gadgets, see Custom Interfaces.
If you already started or published a skill that uses the GameEngine or GadgetController interface, you can continue to access the technical documentation, update the skill, and submit the skill for certification until the interfaces are deprecated on December 1, 2020.
After December 1, 2020, your skill will continue to be available in the Alexa Skills Store and function with Echo Buttons as currently designed. However, you will not be able to submit any updates to your skill without removing the use of the GameEngine and GadgetController interfaces.
Education skills and the Alexa.Education interfaces
As of June 11, 2021 the Alexa Education Skill API is no longer available. You can no longer use the following interfaces:
Alexa.Education.CourseAlexa.Education.CourseworkAlexa.Education.ErrorResponseAlexa.Education.Grade.CourseAlexa.Education.Grade.CourseworkAlexa.Education.Profile.StudentAlexa.Education.School.Communication
Use the custom skill APIs to build an Alexa skill that can access student assignments, grades, and school information. For details, see Understand Custom Skills.
Display interface
The Display interface is deprecated and isn't supported on all Alexa devices. To add multimodal experiences to your skill, use Alexa Presentation Language (APL) instead.
To learn about APL, see Add Visuals and Audio to Your Skill.
The Alexa Design System for APL includes a set of templates that are similar to the display templates, so you can transition your skill. For details about which templates to use, see Replace display templates with responsive templates.
Helper functions to retrieve viewport profiles
The Alexa Skills Kit SDKs includes functions that use data in the skill request context to calculate a viewport profile for the device. These functions are deprecated and aren't recommended. Instead, use the @viewportProfile resource in the viewport profiles package to create APL documents that adapt to different devices.
For details about the @viewportProfile resource and responsive documents, see the following:
The following functions are deprecated and not recommended:
- Node –
getViewportProfile - Python –
get_viewport_profile - Java –
ViewportUtils.getViewportProfile
Knowledge skills
As of October 2022, knowledge skills and the knowledge skill API are no longer supported. You can't create new knowledge skills or edit existing knowledge skills. For previous knowledge skill use cases, such as Q&A models, you can use custom skills. For details, see Understand Custom Skills.
Last updated: Mar 15, 2023