On a very basic level, OurGroceries lets you keep lists of items. As you go shopping, you refer to the list and after you have obtained an item, you just tap on it and it will be crossed off and sent to the bottom of the list in a “Crossed off” section.
You can keep multiple lists so that, for example, you could keep different lists for different stores. Or you could create a separate list for items to buy at a hardware store. Despite the name, OurGroceries is not necessarily a food-centric app and the developers actually suggest that you can use their app to keep track of things not related to shopping.
OurGroceries can very well be used to keep track of “To Do” items or checklists. You can certainly get other apps that are made expressly for those particular tasks, but the most prominent feature of OurGroceries is that it synchronizes lists simultaneously with multiple people.
When items are added or crossed off, the change propagates within seconds to others sharing your lists. This is powerful as it keeps your partner or your little community of sharers abreast of any changes without delay. This feature in itself is so powerful that it may someday overshadow its list tracking functions. Conceptually, it could be used as a crude form of instant messaging or tweeting.
This is all made possible by the servers that OurGroceries employs to store lists and synchronize them among list sharers. Since these servers are central to the multiuser aspect of this app, sharing is only possible when users have a network connection. For most people, this means that they need an iPhone with a data plan.
Most households and groups are not very homogenous when it comes to smart phones, so the developers were very smart to also write this for Android and Blackberry phones so that their users could all share in the joy. Even if a device does not have its own native app, the ourgroceries.com website can be used to share lists.
OurGroceries is very easy to use, but it would be nice to see a little more polish in the interface. Overall though, it can be invaluable to people who need to constantly communicate about their shopping needs.
OurGroceries is free.
