Grocery - Smart Shopping List 4+

I shop for 2 houses. So the ability to have multiple stores (location 1) synced to a single list is great, as is the ability to have another set of stores (location 2) linked to a different list.

Having the lists built on Apple reminders lists is great too because
A) I use the Paprika app for recipes and meal planning, and export lists from there into apple reminders, so they can automatically populate a shopping list in Grocery app, and B) not everyone in the house uses Grocery but they all have Apple Reminders.

However, when you’re stocking pantries in 2 locations, the inventory and “keep in stock” features seem useless. :(

If the developer takes feature requests, I’d love to see 2 things! First, have the “households” feature include the ability to switch between more than one household, with separate inventory, history, & “keep in stock” data for each household.

And second: would further love to have a single store’s list display items from 2 reminders lists (or show items from an Apple Reminders Smart List), perhaps with color distinguishing which reminders list each item comes from.

Why? My 96 year old grandfather makes a shopping list in Apple Reminders and shares it with me. I need to be able to see his list while i’m shopping, and check stuff off of his list in the same shopping trip that i’m checking stuff off of my list, but not confuse him by having all of my shopping items show up on his Apple Reminders list.

I have tried over 40+ grocery/shopping apps, and this app has SO MUCH POTENTIAL. It’s feature rich and has some great functionality. However, like most app developers, use-case and actual usability seem to be an afterthought—which is paramount for any successful app. Features mean absolutely nothing without that! The sync function fails consistently and is poorly planned. I’m required to manually force a sync to iCloud and pull data from iCloud to update shared data on other devices. As a result... we have abandoned use for family and sync function. I have tested this with multiple devices and new data and all problems are easily reproducible. I have also uninstalled and reinstalled to confirm the short list of issues. There is a definitely learning curve, which could be easily remedied.

Emails to developer confirm that you are likely to not get a response, another failed use-case example. It’s easy to open a free support & ticket tracking system to receive the list of issues to be prioritized and worked on, establish a roadmap for features, and get this back on track. I hope that the developer takes this app seriously for future updates, enhancements, and builds up its potential. Again, because it truly has SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

I’ll preface by saying I’ve just downloaded the app and am working through setup, so some more noodling on my part may make things clear. But initial impression is that Store setup is confusing AF. Instructions are minimal and written from the perspective of someone already intimate with the workings of the app. Somehow I wound up with two iCal DAV entries (or maybe two Reminders entries... It’s, like I said, confusing AF). Trying to do a grocery list and it appears as though the second store I set up has become a kind of master store, underneath which the first store I set up is like a sub-store. Like I said, it’s confusing AF. Better instructions are needed, or perhaps, better presentation of stores. Good rules of thumb for instructions: 1) Assume the user does not have a high-level conceptual understanding of your app. The user didn’t design it, so won’t be intimate with the consequences of choosing setup options. 2) Include a how-to guide, with step-by-step instructions, rather than a 10,000-ft level overview of the process.

Update: cancelled subscription, deleted app. The interface with Reminders makes zero sense. I deleted the two stores I had initially set up so I could start over to understand the set up process. To my surprise, a whole other category of Reminders (all geo-fenced reminders with names of fav servers/bartenders at my favorite establishments) showed up as a Store/List. What the fuuu...??