Efficiently Manage And Share Your Grocery Shopping Lists With Shopi

Shopi - Shared Grocery Shopping Lists (Free) by Sapient Pair Pty Ltd is slick shopping list app for your iPhone that makes it incredibly easy to share with others. If you’re looking for a shopping app that isn’t just another to-do list, then Shopi is one you should check out.

Going grocery shopping is something we either love or hate doing, but it’s definitely a necessity. But the problem with it is the fact that we may end up forgetting something that we went to the store for, only to end up with a bunch of other stuff that we didn’t plan on getting on that trip. This is why shopping lists are so handy, but finding the right way to manage that with others (who aren’t present at the store with you) can be a bit daunting. That’s why Shopi was made.

Shopi features a gorgeous and sleek interface that is incredibly simple and intuitive. All apps have gone the “flat” route for their designs, but Shopi definitely looks and feels like a native app. It’s responsive, looks great, and the typography (Avenir) is a nice touch, since it is very legible and one of my favorite fonts.

In order to use Shopi, you will need to create an account, but this is a quick task. Having an account makes it possible to keep your data in check, as well as share lists with others. The account will come with a free 30-day trial, which means no ads. After the trial period, however, Shopi will become ad-supported, but you will still be able to use the app to the full extent without limitations. You can purchase more subscription time through in-app purchases of $1.99 for three months or $4.99 for a year. This is just to remain ad-free and support Shopi directly.

Once you create your account, you’ll be on the main screen, which is a list of your shopping lists. It’s easy to create a new list if needed — just tap on “New List” and give it a name. You can have as many lists as needed.

To add items to a list, just select the one you want and then tap on the “+” button to bring up the New Item text field. Type in what you need, and then you can tap “Add” to save and add another, or “Done” on the keyboard to exit out of the new item mode. Over time, as you add items to Shopi, it will learn what you buy, and bring up suggestions of previously added items as you type them in. This makes it faster to create your lists with frequently purchased items.

Sometimes you’ll need different amounts of a specific item, but Shopi makes this easy to fix. When you have the item in your list, just tap on it while in the “add item” mode to change the quantity. The quantity can be a number, or you can customize it to be “1 bunch,” “2 lb,” or something along those lines. The quantity you enter will show up in a green box next to the item so you can quickly see how much you need at-a-glance. The customizability of this makes Shopi quite a flexible tool for shopping trips. Items can also be favorited for easy recognition in your lists, as they will appear in orange text rather than black.

When you have multiple items in a list, it’s easy to reorder them into an arrangement that you like. This is done by dragging the handles on each item, and over time, Shopi will learn how you like to arrange things, and it will use it for future reference when you create and add to lists.

The real fun with Shopi is the sharing features. You can share lists with others by email, message, email copy, or copy to clipboard. Once the other person downloads and creates a Shopi account, the list will be added to their app.

Shopi also features the “Go Shopping” feature, which you can turn on for a list by tapping on the grocery cart button in the center of the bottom toolbar. This allows you to add nearby shops, and when you are in the vicinity, the app will notify shared users that you are doing the shopping now. During this time, the other users can add and edit items on the list (they also get sorted by your preferred order), and it gets refreshed automatically with any changes while you shop. When you leave the store, the app will notify the other users that you’re done shopping.

This is a very cool feature, and definitely one that works well for families, significant others, roommates, and friends who are organizing a get-together.

Shopi also has “Pocket Lock,” which makes use of the iPhone’s proximity sensor to disable the screen when it detects that it is in a pocket or bag, and unlock when it’s out. Because no one likes to keep locking and unlocking their device manually while shopping, right? This can be disabled in the settings, along with toggles for reordering items and notifying others.

I’m finding Shopi to be a very slick shopping list app, and I’ll definitely be keeping this one around for all my upcoming shopping trips to the market. The interface is minimal yet elegant, it’s super easy to use, and the sharing features are great. I still have some time left on my trial, but depending on how the ads are, I may purchase a subscription in the future.

If you’re looking for a simple but efficient way to manage and share your shopping list with others, then I recommend giving Shopi a try. You can get it in the App Store for your iPhone for free.