Shopping Buddy Talking Shopping List

For some reason Shopping Buddy Talking Shopping List reminded me of a Sesame Street cartoon that I aired when I watched Sesame Street as a child. A little boy’s mother sent him to the store with his list – a loaf of bread, carton of milk and a stick of butter. The little boy (or was it a girl?) repeats the list over and over to himself, picturing the items in his head, trying to remember it all. A loaf of bread, carton of milk and a stick of butter. Shopping Buddy is billed  as the “grocery list app that talks” and as I was listening to the app play my voice reading my grocery list I thought of that cartoon from so long ago. A random thought for a Wednesday evening.

When you start using Shopping Buddy you’ll need to begin from scratch, enter in your store names and their aisles. None of the aisles are preset so you’ll need to type them in. On the plus side you can put in just the aisles you want. On the negative side, it’s going to take a little bit of time. When you’re done you’re ready to enter in your shopping items. When you first created your store the app should have asked you if you wanted to fill it with standard items or create an empty store. If you chose standard items you’ll automatically be given a list of basic store items. If you went with the empty store you’ll need to enter in all of your products. It’s a matter of typing in your items and assigning them to an aisle. Here’s where the “talking” part comes into play. As you are adding items you can record yourself saying the name of the item. My son thought this was a hoot and helped me get a few things onto my store list. Once items are in the store you can tap on them and add them to your list. Then it’s time to shop. You tap the word “Shop” at the bottom of the screen and an image of a robot appears.  Tap the screen and you’ll hear the name of the aisle and the things from your list that are found on that aisle. A loaf of bread, carton of milk and a stick of butter. Double tap the screen to hear the item again then swipe the screen to move on to the next aisle.

The basic version of Shopping Buddy is free and has the features that I’ve mentioned above. If you upgrade to Shopping Buddy Pro for $1.99 you’ll be able to  enter in lists for more than one store, create a quick list that doesn’t talk and make notes about the different items.

The concept behind Shopping Buddy is a good one, it gives you a grocery list app that doesn’t require you to do a lot of tapping while you’re shopping. I’m sure there are many people who would benefit from an app that talks to them and reminds them what they’re looking for as they wander the aisles. The talking feature could come in handy and I know my kids would enjoy using this list but unfortunately this isn’t the grocery app for me. To be honest, I don’t think I’d be able to hear the list over my children asking me over and over for this and that while we shopped. I also need an app with a few more features, one that lets me rearrange store aisles, mark coupons and enter in the prices of items as I shop. That being said I think “the perfect grocery list app” means different things to everyone and maybe this one is for you. It never hurts to try out a free app.

Price when Reviewed: FREE for basic version and $1.99 for upgrade to Shopping Buddy Pro

Seller: The Mental Faculty

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.