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Amazon Updates Alexa Devices With Apple iCloud Calendar Integration

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Amazon today announced that users will now be able to sync their iCloud Calendar information with devices that support Amazon's smart assistant Alexa. With the update, users can ask Alexa what's coming up on their calendar, or issue commands so new appointments are added to the schedule. Anything added from an Amazon device is then synced with iCloud and added to the Calendar app on iOS and macOS devices.

To sync an iCloud account with Alexa, the company said that customers will have to sign in to their Apple account within the settings tab of the Alexa iOS app. Users in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany will gain access to the new update beginning today, representing the current countries where Alexa is available.

icloud-calendar-alexa.jpg
Starting today, you can now link your Apple iCloud Calendar to Alexa. To do this, iCloud Calendar customers can simply link their account in the settings tab in the Alexa app. Once linked, just say, "Alexa, what's on my calendar today?" or "Alexa, add lunch with Sarah at noon to my calendar."

iCloud Calendar support has been a top requested feature from Alexa customers, and we're thrilled to bring this to Alexa devices in US, UK and Germany today.
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With the inclusion of Apple's Calendar, Alexa device users now have access to five total calendar services, also including accounts for G Suite, Google/Gmail, Office 365 users with Exchange Online mailboxes, and Outlook.com.

Alexa is available in a variety of hardware devices sold by Amazon, including the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Look, and new Echo Show, as well as on the Amazon Alexa iOS app [Direct Link].

Article Link: Amazon Updates Alexa Devices With Apple iCloud Calendar Integration
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/31/amazon-alexa-icloud-calendar/
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Reactions: deany
I welcome this! Now the workaround (publicly sharing your iCloud calendar, getting the link, downloading it as a .ics file, importing it to Google Calendar, and linking Alexa to Google) is no longer needed, I can just link direct to iCloud and I can stop publicly sharing my calendars.

Well done Amazon.
 
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Reactions: rbrian, orbital~debris, Kynmore and 2 others
While some may balk at this (after all... you're giving Amazon access to your calendar!), I welcome it.

We all expect Apple to announce a similar product at WWDC, but experience tells me that the first version will (1) have limited features, (2) be hamstrung by Siri, and (3) be incredibly expensive. Hopefully they will surprise us all.

In the meantime, Amazon owns this segment... and has every right to. The Echo line is incredibly useful and this will just make it more so.
 
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Reactions: deany, rbrian, cjgrif and 1 other person
I'll wait for Apple's speaker that does all of this automatically! :)

I love my Echo device but it's become simply a utility for timers, measurements and weather. Apple with 1st party integration is going to overtake this in my home as we're 100% Apple (AppleTV, MacBook, iPad, iPhone, iMac, HomeKit).
 
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Reactions: DotCom2 and orbital~debris
Nice! I've been waiting for this. It is live now in the iOS app and I was able to add my iCloud calendar and tasks (Reminders) with an application specific password.

From just the little bit of playing around with it on the Echo it seems to work well.

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Reactions: deany
This takes a bit of time if you don't have two-factor authentication enabled. I had to enter a password or passcode about 10 times during the process.
 
When I select Reminders as my calendar it says it is having trouble adding events to my calendar. When I select any other calendar it works. Annoying because I never use the calendar. I use reminders for everything.
 
Awesome! I was recently messing around with switching over to Google Calendar for this reason, but it seems contacts don't get updated from Facebook/Twitter/Linkedin if it is not an iCloud contact list.

Now if only the reminders can be synced!
 
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Reactions: AlliFlowers
Doesn't work for me. I keep getting "Im having trouble accessing your calendar, please try again later".

Already had 2 factor auth set up, everything seems to have connected correctly. ideas?
 
daijholt said:
Doesn't work for me. I keep getting "Im having trouble accessing your calendar, please try again later".

Already had 2 factor auth set up, everything seems to have connected correctly. ideas?
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Did you login to your AppleID account and get a new application specific password?

Also, you need to include the dashes in the password or it won't work.
 
Alexa seems to be able to add an appointment but not delete. I tried 'please cancel my appointment on xxxx' or 'delete my appointment' but Alexa isn't able to 'help you on that'.
 
Weaselboy said:
Did you login to your AppleID account and get a new application specific password?

Also, you need to include the dashes in the password or it won't work.
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Double checked both and yes. Still getting the same issue. The issue doesn't occur with google Cal.
 
What annoys me is the use of App-Specific passwords. Google, Microsoft and many other only use them as a fall back for legacy services. iCloud is using them as standard, which is crazy.
 
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Reactions: Pagemakers
adamjackson said:
I'll wait for Apple's speaker that does all of this automatically! :)

I love my Echo device but it's become simply a utility for timers, measurements and weather. Apple with 1st party integration is going to overtake this in my home as we're 100% Apple (AppleTV, MacBook, iPad, iPhone, iMac, HomeKit).
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For 50 bucks (and sometimes less) it's certainly not bad though!
 
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Reactions: deany, rbrian and adamjackson
So I linked my iCloud account and iCloud calendar integration works fine as far as I can tell.

What doesn't seem to work and I'm not sure if it is supposed to or not, is reminder integration. Alexa can see my reminder lists as I can check/uncheck them in the calendar settings, but if I ask her what's on my calendar for today, she doesn't give me any reminder information.
 
Weaselboy said:
Hmmn... dunno. I just double checked and mine is still working.
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Been messing around and managed to get it working, albeit intermittently.

Had one of my alexa devices set to US instead of UK. Changed it and it seemed to make a difference. It actually reads my calendar now (still a bit hit and miss though).

Also, it allows me to add to my calendar with no issues, it's purely about reading it back that gives me trouble.
 
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