Grosh is an Android app that aims to make shopping simpler, more efficient and less work each time you create a shopping list. The idea with Grosh is that users need only create one list, and then add new items to it as time goes on, allowing them to keep the original list going, but also simplify their overall shopping experience. Items are automatically listed into categories and users can sort through them using these categories and share them with other to make sure that nothing is left behind. Grosh is completely free, making this one of the more fully-featured shopping apps that doesn’t ask for any in-app purchases or upgrades. Grosh is all about making it simpler to never forget a single item when you’re at the store.
First thing’s first, users can download Grosh from the Google Play Store for free. A premium version of the app is coming soon with more features, but this version of the basic app is and will stay totally free. When you first launch the app, you’ll be given an introduction to Grosh.
There’s an explanatory video to watch, but also some quick hints about Grosh, like the ability to remind you about items you are likely to run out of, based on your habits.
New users will need to create an account, which is all done via the app, and there’s no need to click a referral link in your inbox or anything, it all just works nice and easily.
Adding things to your list is as simple as typing something in, everything else will be taken care of by Grosh as you complete your list.
As you can see, I’ve added a few things to my list here, and Grosh makes it easy by suggesting items after just typing some characters. Once you’ve populated your shopping list, you’ll notice that everything is automatically categorized for you:
Grosh knows a bunch of groceries and their category, but also makes educated guesses on new groceries. Grosh crowd sources groceries and their category from the users, so it will get even smarter over time. You can easily collapse and expand these categories at any time as well, making it simple to sort through your list at any time during your shopping trip.
Shoppers can further customize their list with individual settings for each item as well:
This includes being able to change the category to better organize your list:
As well as the ability to choose a specific store for each item. This is a nice touch as it means you’ll always remember to get the right brand or make, and for a lot of modern shoppers one store doesn’t do it all, anyway. These settings can have a good effect on your list, too:
Tapping the store name will toggle filtering items for that store on and off. Smart. Grosh also remember your latest shopped quantity and chosen store for the next time you add the same item, making it easy to add groceries. After a month of using Grosh, it’ll start to offer up suggestions for you, based on your shopping habits and such.
These suggestions are based on regular purchases of items, so if you buy 5 milk every week, and it’s been several days since you bought milk last – there will be a red item called milk on the suggestion screen. Just swipe it over, and the item is now marked orange, meaning it is now on the shopping list. Very smart and easy to use – and this is nowhere to be found on other shopping apps.
Grosh claims to be an app like no other shopping list out there, and while I can see that there are a lot of new features here, on the surface, it feels much like other shopping list apps do except for the suggestion feature. This is what makes it different. Extra features like the categories and different store tags are nice additions, and these are great for me as I go to stores like Lidl and Tesco for different things, and I’m sure that “shopping around” is a universal concept the world over, so this is a good feature. As too, is the ability to choose from a big list of categories, but a manual choice would help make things even more personal to shoppers. However, the app uses the fixed category selection to learn the shops layout – which would not be possible if all users had their own categories. Grosh records the sequence of item purchases and in in this way crowd sources knowledge on a store’s layout (sequence of categories in the store). It uses this to sort the list depending on the store you enter to make it easy to swipe items from the top of the list as you move along in the store. However, this feature does not kick in until a few purchase have been performed in the store you are in.
Sharing a list is nice as well, but this is a feature that a lot of apps have on offer and there’s no Android Wear support, which makes the app more of a hassle while on the move for a smartwatch user like myself. Either way, there’s a lot on offer here, and the app has just launched so it’s definitely a great start and many extensions will be possible over time with this.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Grosh is a shopping app that’s quick when adding items to a list, as well as organising and changing things around, too.
- Features (4.5/5) – There’s a lot on offer here in Grosh, and for those that have a number of different stores to hit as well as a laundry list of special choices, it can be really helpful to make light work of a long, long shopping list at the end of the week.
- Theme (3.5/5) – The overall look and feel here is a little simplistic, boxy and angular, and rather than use the Material Design guidelines, this looks and feels like something built for an older version of Android.
- Overall (4/5) – A quality shopping list app that does make it easier to keep a regular list up-to-date and smart suggestions, there’s a lot to love about Grosh and it’ll only get better and better.
Pros
- Works well on any smartphone or tablet running Android, doesn’t need too many resources and just works.
- Allows users to choose different categories and different stores for each item in their shopping list, giving them flexibility.
- Web app is available for all platforms on Desktop as well as tablets.
- Great app for regular shoppers that buy similar things each week as it helps people stay on top of things.
- Simple and easy to use for all kinds of users, no matter their age or tech savviness.
Cons
- No Android Wear app.
- Overall look and feel does not feel as modern as other Material Design shopping list apps.
Grosh is a good shopping list for those that are looking to get a quality shopping list app to make sure they stay on top of things and never miss anything. For regular shoppers, this is the perfect app, as it can be tuned to how you like to do things, including different stores from all over the world and being able to sort through categories can make things nice and quick when you’re in the store as well.