Unable to link accounts. Your Alexa app needs an update

[jwlv]

I was changing some skills in my Alexa app, disabling and enabling some of the skills I had.
When enabling a particular skill, I was prompted to link my account. This is normal. But every time I tried, I get a message "Unable to link accounts. Your Alexa app needs an update."  For three weeks I couldn't get it to work. At first, I thought it was the skill that was the problem. So I waited to see if the skill would be fixed. Then I thought maybe it's the Alexa app. So I waited for the Alexa app to get an update. Finally I found out that it wasn't the skill or the Alexa app. In a Reddit and a Github post, I read that Amazon changed the way it links accounts and broke some skills. And according to the posts, the only way to fix it is to delete the Alexa app from your phone and reinstall. I did just that, but the problem still persisted. I figured out a different fix that actually worked for me. I logged into my Amazon account with a desktop computer and enabled the skill I wanted from the computer. And then linking my account to the skill worked as expected from the computer. To enable a skill from your computer, just go to https://www.amazon.com/alexa-skills/b?ie=UTF8&node=13727921011 and search for the skill. And then you can enable the skill and link your account. I don't know what's going on with Amazon and their Alexa team. But things seem to be falling apart there.

[renegade600]

might want to check out https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/ask-overviews/deprecated-features.html#shopping-lists  just scroll up and down and see all the changes where features are being taken away, not added.   

[jwlv]

I stopped developing Alexa skills a couple of years ago. I find the constant changing and limiting functions quite frustrating. One day it works and the next it doesn't. And then some other developer's skill that I didn't even enable gets priority over my skill that is enabled. So instead of invoking my skill and replying to my command, it asks if i want to enable some other skill that isn't even related to mine. BLAH!

[Clive]

I was getting exactly the same error message, I updated Alexa, I uninstalled and re-installed it, but still the same. But I eventually found a solution on my Samsung phone. . . .

Go to settings - Apps - Amazon Alexa - Set as Default - Go to Supported URL's (in this app) - then check "In this App" instead of "Always ask".

This worked a treat for me.