The iPhone Mom

When Keith, the developer of GroceryList, contacted me about his app he’d already read my thoughts on the other grocery list apps that I’ve tried. He told me right up front that it didn’t have many of the features I’m looking for (multiple lists, syncing with another user, price information) but he also told me why he thought I would like it.  He said “it’s like a paper list, but much faster, more orderly and always in your pocket”.  I haven’t found the app yet that suits me perfectly so I thought, why not try it out?. And since one of my issues with the other apps is dealing with multiple screens to make a list I wasn’t going to say no to an app that claims to be fast.

So what did I think? Here are the things that I liked about GroceryList.

*It’s fast. The app comes with a “master list” and all you need to do to add an item to your shopping list is tap the plus sign next to it. Tap more than once to add  more than one of something. The items come with an aisle already preset. This will determine the order the items show up in for your shopping list.  You can change the aisle by tapping on the name of the item and then the blue arrow that appears. Now you can assign a new aisle and also add notes that will show up on your shopping list.

*The master list is thorough. Absinthe? Covered.  Whoppers? Yep. Trash bags? Would you like drawstring, drawstring scented, handle tie, outdoor or twist-tie? Like I said, it’s thorough. You can also add your own items to the list with the plus sign at the top right corner. All you need to do is type in your item and select the aisle it’s located on.

*I like the way the master list is organized. It’s alphabetized and the alphabet shows up vertically on the right hand side of your screen. Tap on the letter you want to jump to and you’ll get a list of beginnings of items. For example if you tap on “O” you’ll see Oatm, Onio, Ora-, Oran and Oven. Tap on the beginning that’s closest to the item you’re searching for and you’ll jump to that part of the list. It’s much faster than scrolling through a really, really long master list. You can also perform a search of the list.

*The aisle list is impressive. Usually I have to add in aisles like baby items and greeting cards but they’re covered here. You can drag the aisles up and down to rearrange how they’ll appear on your list. You can also add in your own aisles too. (To get to the “edit aisles” option you have to tap the “Go Shopping” button.)

Now for the things I didn’t like so much.

*As of right now you cannot delete items that came on the master list. You can delete the items that you add but not the original items. When you tap on the item name you’ll see a trash can icon but it doesn’t work yet. Keith tells me this is going to change in version 1.2 which should be coming by the end of next month.

*At the top of the master list is a button that says “My Common Items”. Tap on this and you’ll see a predetermined list of items. Right now you can’t manually add items to this list. But as you create shopping shopping lists the app will add the items you shop for most frequently to the common items. You also can’t delete the predetermined “common items”. Keith tells me this is also going to be changing in version 1.2. I like the idea of having the app automatically adding the items that I use most. That saves me a step but I also want some control too.

*In other apps, when you have items on your list (but you don’t have the app open) the number of items shows up in a red circle near the app’s icon. That was a long sentence. The point is, GroceryList doesn’t have that feature yet.

*The $4.99 price seems a tad too high.

Ok, now that I’ve gone through all of that I’m going to tell you that I plan on keeping GroceryList on my phone. I really like the basics of it and I think with the tweaks that are planned it’s going to be a nice, easy to use grocery list. Keith tells me that he is also working on creating a multiple list feature which is a big thing for me. I want to be able to separate my Costco list from my regular groceries. Overall GroceryList is fast, there’s something to be said for being able to create a list with a few taps and it absolutely beats a crumpled paper in the bottom of my purse.

Price when Reviewed: $4.99

Seller: Helium Foot Software