How to Use a Shared Digital Grocery List App

A shared digital grocery list solves a very common problem: one person heads to the store only to realize the rest of the family added things to the list after they left — or forgot to add things at all. With a shared grocery list app, everyone in the household can add, remove, and check off items in real time from their own phones.

When one person checks off "milk" at the store, it disappears from everyone else's list too. When someone at home realizes they need pasta, they add it and the person at the store sees it appear immediately.

The most popular shared grocery list apps in the United States include OurGroceries, AnyList, and Google Keep (which has a list feature). Amazon shopping lists and Apple Reminders also support sharing. All of the basic versions are free.

OurGroceries and AnyList are dedicated grocery apps — they organize items by category (produce, dairy, frozen, etc.), remember your most common items, and let you save favorite store layouts so the list is in the order you walk through the store. Google Keep is simpler but works well for people who already use Google.

The key step that makes these apps useful is sharing the list with other people in your household. This requires everyone to have the same app installed and an account. Sharing takes about two minutes once everyone has the app.

Quick Tip: Organize your list by aisle or store section. Both OurGroceries and AnyList can sort items by category automatically so you are not running back across the store for something you missed.