List Ease: Shared Grocery List Reviews

by Onenail The Cook

My wife and I were very excited to find ListEase to allow us to synch our shopping lists. We have a disabled daughter on a very restrictive diet resulting in shopping at multiple stores for our grocery needs. ListEase seems like exactly what we needed to assist us and simplify this task.

We spent over 8 hours loading our pantry with the items we use and ListEase was syncing our entries onto one pantry list. After one shopping trip picking up 6 to 8 items ListEase stopped syncing. The pantry no longer syncs between our devices.

I followed the instructions on the help site for syncing issues and this did not fix the issue. I opened a ticket on their site for help where it is listed they will get back to you in 24 hours. A week later, no response and unable to use ListEase . This appears to no longer be supported by the developers and the advertised synching abilities are not working. We are going to see if we can get our money spent on ListEase back and unfortunately look for another solution.

by ZsuZsa Mom

This used to be my favorite organizational app. I wish that tech folks would make sure that any updates are actually an improvement and WORK before releasing them!! Now when adding or moving an item, the fonts have been changed. Almost everything on the page is uniform now, and it makes it visually hard to distinguish headings from info. I used to be able to glance, and now I have to stop and focus to read it. But more importantly, it’s GLITCHY!! If you add a new item and try to change the category from “Other”, more often than not it will kick you out of ListEase . This is the case when trying to change or move anything. It’s almost not worth having to reopen ListEase over and over. Why did the makers do this and not test it more?? May have to find another shopping list app after years. :(

This grocery list app does everything I need it to do. It lets me keep multiple lists for different stores, it lets me easily move items from list to list and category to category, it remembers new items it doesn’t initially recognize, and it lets me check items off (and moves them to a bottom section) but doesn’t erase them until I tell it to. It’s well organized and easy to use. Exactly what I was looking for!

by JackM4

I love the features of ListEase — the auto categorization (and easy category modifications), the ability to include how much in multiple units, the memory for previous times you’ve purchased an item and what notes you put in then. But the thing that has finally driven us crazy is the sync problems. I’ve tried the suggestions from support — delete the list from one device, resync the other device, re share the list and move on. It works for a few days, but reliably we will find that items that have been checked off on one device won’t be checked off on the other, and then we either are forever confirming the current grocery list with each other by text (if we have to do that what’s the point of a list that syncs between devices!) or we end up with 2x the amount we actually needed. And the reliability seems to have gotten significantly worse recently too! List Ease has been adding lots of extra bells and whistles recently, but they still haven’t got the core task working reliably!!

by MJFrey

I also used Groceries for years and had to choose something else, unfortunately. And...if it weren’t for the support issue with ListEase and a bug, I would give it 5 stars. The categories are not sorted so you can manage your lists more effectively. So, you drag and drop them...great. Then you get them sorted just how you want...and one day while using the list, it just somehow unsorts them or sorts them in reverse...and you have to start all over...manually. It makes ListEase less effective to use when in the store. This has now happened to me 6 times. I put in a ticket with them 2 months ago and have not heard one word. I also wrote them an e-mail...again, no response.

So, ListEase has an unresolved bug. First, you should be able to autosort the categories alphabetically. Second, if you have spent all the time to sort your categories manually, ListEase should not just decide to undo that. That is a bug. If they decide to respond and fix this, I would happily change my review to a 5-star. Why is customer service so hard for people these days?

by MozartNot

I’m afraid I am really looking for a list database that hasn’t been recreated since the wonderful shopping app on the Palm Pilot. One tiny example of the many reasons why it was so great: you could associate an item at multiple stores and if you checked it off at one store it was checked on all lists that item was associated with. If you later ran out of that item, clicking it anywhere made it show up on all the stores it was previously associated with. Another nicety was that in the store you didn’t have to see all the distracting checked items. (I even begged the developer to port it to iPhone but he didn’t like Apple).

That said, this is OK, while the others I’ve tried are terrible. My list of purchased items is so long and so disorganized by ListEase , that I’m starting new duplicate items because I can’t find the current one in the “checked” list.

The reason I’m writing this now though is the “Alphabetical” list. It doesn’t alphabetize at all! I can’t tell what it’s doing but it looks very random. I tried to attach a screen shot but ….

by Gaipiedusa

Have used ListEase for well over a year. Numerous improvements would make ListEase really much more helpful when grocery shopping and preparing a shopping list.
The preset categories like dairy, meat etc are not at all adequate and require pigeon holing products I am looking for in odd designations. You can use ‘Other’ but that too is not helpful. Someone who actually shops in a grocery store needs to redo those general categories or allow, even better, users to create their own.
Once an item is checked off after deleting it from the shopping list after finding it, it drops to another list below the Shopping list for future reference. That is a nice feature for staples that are bought often. But they are displayed helter skelter and make finding the item again a chore. At a minimum they should be alphabetized for easy searching.
The shopping list is the only feature of ListEase I use. I wish it were much better and it would be with a little informed and experienced work by the developers.

by Bdclue01

Last update and drop in rating: syncing just does not work reliably. It may because the 5s is not supported very well, but it also happens between two 7s iPhones. We have decided to try searching for another solution since my son did a number of shops for me now where the lists were not synced. I’ll keep 3 stars since I like the interface, but just does not work for our family.
Update: Still great, but would be nice to have an option that allows the categories to always be sorted in a list (a nit). When a new item is added to a category, it looks like the category is shifted to the top. Easy enough to move it back, but the way I use it (see below), the Master Lists are fairly big so moving takes a few minutes.
Initial Entry: I keep a master grocery list and transfer items needed from it to a next grocery run list. When a family member shops and checks off the item, we just return it to the master list. It is great that the lists synchronize live over cellular. When someone is shopping, items can be added or transferred to the list real time.

by K-em

I used the Groceries app for years and when it was no longer available I switched to this one. I like the detail offered for each line item, I like the idea of the Pantry section although I haven’t found it useful yet. The reason I only gave it 3 stars is for these reasons. 1. The aisle labels are easily rearranged to match the layout of my grocery store, but they don’t stay that way. They spontaneously rearrange themselves, so I’m constantly putting them back where I want them. 2. The checkbox avatar is cute but irritating when I have to wait to check off the next item until the animation is done. 3. It doesn’t let me list less than one. For instance, I often buy half a pound of something at the deli counter but I can’t use less than one in the item details. 4. While I like it telling me how much my whole grocery list is worth I don’t like that it includes things that are checked off. I leave things I buy regularly in the checked off section as a reminder to check if I need it and to make it easier to add to my list as needed. That feature worked really well in my previous app, but needs work in this one. 5. Related to number 4, my previous app learned which items I used regularly and would suggest them without prompting in the search window. I could just go down the list and click on what I wanted. 6. I think the coupon section should suggest coupons based on my shopping list.

by Huckleberry Surveyor

My wife & I have been using ListEase for over a year now. We like that you can sort your categories to suit a certain store & isle configuration but they don’t seem to stay where they’re put. Also, if you rename an existing category, it does not stay renamed but reverts back to its original name.

We like having the pantry and have also created a pantry for our trailer so that we can keep it stocked.

Our biggest issue with ListEase is the syncing. It used to sync relatively well but now it works relatively poorly. This is with the iPhone 8s & current iOS. Our Banktivity app syncing works seamlessly on our iPhone 8s. It would be much more useful if ListEase did the same thing. With the Banktivity app, as soon as you finish an entry it updates to the server. With the List Ease app, we have to force it to sync and even then a lot of the time it doesn’t get there.

When we started using ListEase, it was the best one that I could find and the most functional. I may have to take another look and see what else is out there now and see if somebody else has improved on things.

To the developers of the List Ease app I would say, thank you for ListEase , it has done well but needs some additional improvements and possibly some changes. As you already know, you have a good app but it needs some improvement certain areas.

by Sumone2b

My husband and I recently found ListEase and we love it so far. It has been so hard to find a good app that is easy to use and to keep us organized. In the past the list apps we found were so lacking that we created our own paper templates to use at the store. With ListEase my son was actually helping my husband record the pricing data as they went through the store, it is that easy to use. ListEase is one of the best list apps we have found. We can have different lists for specific stores that we regularly use. We can include prices so we stay on budget, this was fantastic. I haven't used the pantry or the coupon aspect of ListEase yet but I am assuming it is probably pretty good cause I am very impressed with ListEase . So why not 5 stars... because I only go to the same stores and buy mainly the same things. I don’t want or need to create a brand new list each week. That takes away my time. I want to save my list and include each week what I want or not want, I don’t want to retype everything. I also want to be able to track the prices of items based on the store I shop because some times some things are cheaper than other weeks. I want to be able to use the data collected by me with ListEase to save me more money. If the developers fix these things then ListEase would be 5 stars.

by Chellee326

I used Out Of Milk for years but the latest update makes it literally impossible to use with its glitches and freezing and not loading new additions. It took me months of trying new grocery list apps and finally settled on this one reluctantly. After getting a good feel for it I came to really like it but it could use a few updates to make a five star app.
My biggest complaint is that you cannot permanently fix the grocery categories into position. You can drag them up and down but the next time you add those categories they’re out of order again. I have even seen the locations move while I am using ListEase making them out of order though I never closed ListEase . Sometimes when I check an item off a different category rises to the top or falls to the bottom with seemingly no correlation between incidents.
Another great option would to make this a web-app so that there is an ability to use a website to make the lists and edit them that is then update on the phone app.
It really is a great app and very versatile and simple to use but the categories moving around causes me a lot of frustration as I hate backtracking through the stores to revisit aisles I’ve walk down or passed.

by Rkwool12

Overall I like ListEase. A couple things I would like to see, but if they’re already available and I just haven’t figured it out, let me know.
1. I can email a link to my list but I can’t text it. This means I have to text anyone I send the list and tell them to check their email- especially my 15 yo daughter. No one checks email with the frequency that they check text.
2. If I add an item and assign it a price, it will carry over from another list if I want it to, but ListEase removes it from the list I carried it over from. I don’t always carry an item over - I may need it in a month instead of next week, so now I have to go through multiple lists. I’d like to create a base list where I can check the items I want moved into my current list, but the items aren’t removed from my base list. Still overall I like it, and will continue to use it.

by Meowza22

…there’s a few glitches. The most frustrating one for me is the “moving category” glitch. It seems to happen when I add an item to my pantry list, and then the category moves. And sometimes a category just switches places in my grocery list so I have to backtrack in the store because my list changed from the store layout to randomness. I haven’t figured out the pattern on that yet. Also, I do wish you could delete an item, as I’ve accidentally duplicated a few items and I can’t figure out how to get them out of my lists, so I just erase the item a put a period in the name slot. It would be nice if the developers would pay attention to these reviews, as it appears that us users are having the same problems and it’s been going on for a while. I really do like ListEase over several others I’ve tried. The glitches are manageable. I guess.

Update to my review: I just figured out how to delete my duplicates-swipe left on the name! I’m such a dork!

by Shutterbug_bbvanlife

I have used various list apps over the years - each one until it is no longer supported and then I have to get used to a new one! ListEase is generally user friendly although I only use the list feature. Two things that can be annoying (okay maybe three): 1. When I walk into a store (I shop regularly at three or four), and open ListEase , an ad for sales pops up (come to think of it, I haven’t seen this in a while so maybe it has (hopefully) gone away?, 2. I appreciate that ListEase remembers items I have listed in the past but sometimes when adding a new one that has an obvious category, it gets stuck in “other” - it seems like it could be a little more intuitive. Last, the check box for items that I save because I use regularly is cute but a tad annoying. Despite these annoyances, this is the best list app I have found for my needs.

by IrisRedhead

I keep finding more uses for ListEase. I started out just needing a list when I go to the store. However, I shop at 4 to 10 stores depending on price & quality. Quantity comes in 3rd. I can find what is on sale where & write that out. I can keep tabs of what I am spending as I go. With storage I can take advantage of sales.
I keep a running list of my pantry, my refrigerator, my car, my shed, & my storage (which is not at hone). I really have to watch my pennies because I only have Spousal Social Security & I only get paid once a month.
I color & cut my own hair to save money. ListEase has helped me to plan & follow that plan so that I don’t purchase things I already have or things I do not need. I have about 100 uses for vinegar (from hair care to house cleaning to keeping bugs, ants, & critters out of places they should not be, & laundry & even wellness.) so I need to keep it on hand. There is so much more that ListEase has helped me with but I don’t want to bore you.
Thank you for creating it. I thought that was another talent I would need to spend time learning (how to make an app.) But so far there is nothing I have needed that is not incorporated into ListEase.

by RicherWithTime

I use ListEase in two ways. 1). To organize a list of what I need for the next grocery trip 2). To organize things I've run out of but might not need more of at the moment.

I don't have a pet so I organize everything I need for the next grocery trip under pet. So if I run out of something but don't think I'll need it any time soon I'll put it under its proper category. I don't want to over buy stuff but I want to keep track of what I might need at some point.

If I enter something into pet category it redirects back to default in its proper category. I have to exit out of ListEase , reopen it and move it from the default category and put it into the category I tried to originally in. Frustrating but predictable.

by Mominator070

I can’t say enough good things about ListEase. It’s one of the best apps I’ve ever used. I have used a couple of shopping list apps over the years but this is by far the best I have ever used! I love that you can adjust what you have on hand and it reminds you to buy those items again. I also love that you can categorize the items and then organize those categories. I set mine up to be in line with the aisles in my local grocery store. That way I don’t have to weave through the entire store when I shop. I can just go to the aisles where there are items from my list.
I also love that it saves items that you purchased previously so all you have to do is “un-check“ the item and it goes back on your shopping list. An overall excellent app and I’m so happy I found it.

by Guyfromtexas_406

I have been using ListEase for every visit to grocery store for nearly 2 years. No more trying to carry a paper list and pen to mark off items all while pushing a basket and grabbing items from shelves and keeping an eye on your phone for texts, etc ... Your hands can only do so much !! I love the way it saves all the items ever added to the list, so next visit to store u just uncheck what you need. At the store , just set your phone in the basket with ListEase on and uncheck as u go. Chances are u already have ur phone with u anyway. Been trying to convince my wife to use it but she is hard set on a paper list and pen (also she sometimes forgets to bring the list to the store and is then totally lost... I love ListEase and have always told others about it as well. Good job on great app that is more useful than people think. Thanks!!!! -A Dad from Texas

by FuzzySteve

ListEase is exactly what we were looking for. We can easily share lists, no matter who is doing the shopping we both always have the current and up to date list. I can’t count the number of times I have said to my wife “don’t forget, we need X”, only for us both to forget about it while shopping. Now we just added it to the list and we both see almost instantly. We have started to use it for lists beyond grocery shopping, i.e. home improvement, things to take on vacation, Christmas list, to do lists. We have found that ListEase is a great way to easily share lists with anyone. We only use about 1/3 of the capability ListEase offers. One improvement I’d like to see is have ListEase work with Siri shortcuts. I wish I could just say “add milk to the shopping list” and have it work. So thing to look forward to.

by Guinaverre

This finally is my review. I had a problem early on with not being able to change category names but they have since fixed this and now I consider this a super 5 star app. I love that you don’t have to re add stuff on this list but can go thru and add stuff from my pantry back to my current grocery list, with just a tap. This process helps me make sure things that I may have forgotten are on my current grocery list, since they are all things I have bought before. Also, I can save other items on my other store list like feed store, hardware, bank, post office. One of my lists I use ListEase for are meals I can make with the food I have in house/ or are buying and meal/food I have made in the freezer for a quick meal when I do not feel like cooking (yah tamales) Very helpful and well used app, and I do not have to pay, as the free version is way more they adequate for all my purposes.